


Whitechapel Adventures book: 1 Dawn of the Bloodsuckers

by Creativecutieness



Series: Whitechapel Adventures [2]
Category: Gravity Falls, My Babysitter's A Vampire
Genre: Adventure, Based on the My Babysitters a Vampire Movie, Canon Compliant, Crossover, F/M, Friendship, Multi, Supernatural Elements, Whitechapel Adventures book one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2021-01-05 19:24:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 47,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21213806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Creativecutieness/pseuds/Creativecutieness
Summary: Dakota has always lived a life of adventure, but when her best friend Amy enrolls everyone to a school located in a sleepy town called Whitechapel, things go from peaceful to crazy real fast.When there new best friend turns out to be a real fledgling vampire. It's up to the girls to team up with their new friends and stop a real vampiric fret. A personal memoir based on Dakota's childhood days





	1. Welcome to Whitechapel

**Author's Note:**

> This story is based on the My Babysitters a Vampire movie. With, the added addition of Mabel Pines, Mimi, and my own original characters. This is also a memoir, based on my main character Dakota's childhood days living in Whitechapel story won't always be in her perspective but most of the time it is. It's her point of view after all. So I hope you enjoy the first entry of my My Babysitters a Vampire fanfic series.

We all had those strange experiences that we can’t explain. The things we thought we saw as a kid that our parents dismissed as our wild imaginations. But what if I told you they, where real all of them the monster hiding under your bed, the creature that you thought you saw in your closet.

They, where most likely real all of them the supernatural does exist. Now how you would react if I told you that I know a babysitter who was a vampire, well she wasn’t my babysitter she was actually my best friend Ethan Morgan’s little sister’s babysitter, but she was still a good friend of mine. But on that faithful night when we found out she was not normal she changed me and all of my friends lives for the better. And tonight I will tell you the story of how a simple town can hold some deep dark secrets.  
The story I’m about to tell you takes place seven years ago, I was ten years old at the time. 

So in order for you to understand the story let me start at the beginning. My name is Dakota, but I am anything but an ordinary girl along with my best friends Emily, her sister Amy, Cindy, her sister Chloe, Esamanda, her best friend Lizzy, and Mimi you know the girl the "Super Paper Mario" game. We also have a new friend her name is Mabel Pines who we met during a pit stop in California she originally came with us to see an advance screening to a movie that was new at the time but more on that later.

You see Emily and Amy's parents used to live in a place called "Whitechapel" a small town in Ontario Canada. When they told them about it, Amy thought it would be a good idea to attend the same high school they did. You see most of my friends are actually angels and because Amy and the others died young, they never had a full high school experience so Amy thought it would be good to make up for the lost time. So preparations were made, then one night bags where packed, and the next morning I said goodbye to my family, and we got on our warp stars, and off to Canada we went. We got there a week before school started and moved into the old house that Emily and Amy's parents, used to live in when they began living together. We also quickly made a few new friends.

We were living in Whitechapel for about a week when two of our new friends, fourteen-year-old Ethen Morgan and his best friend Benny Weir invited us over to Ethen's house for the night, too celebrate us moving into town and for starting our freshman year together at Whitechapel High School.

Ethen's parents were out on a date, so we had the house all to ourselves, except Ethen had to look after his eight-year-old sister Jane. Jane and Mabel were watching T.V quietly together, and Mabel's eyes were, glued to a trailer (or at least I think it was a trailer) for the new vampire movie Dusk III: Unbitten that was screening next Friday which is why she's here as Mabel is a huge vampire fangirl. Meanwhile, in the kitchen Benny was unpacking some snacks for our big Sunday night.

* * *

"Whoa, look at all this stuff where did you get all this?" I asked, "Yeah what'd you do, rob an ice cream truck or something?" Ethen asked "tomorrow we officially join the high school brotherhood. We are men. We must mark the moment. Benny said, "Let's make this the Sunday to end all Sundays." they said, "Let's make this the best Sunday night ever!" Emily exclaimed "see Ems, and you said it would lame hanging out with geeks," I said "look, I don't care how geeky these kids might get. You have to admit high school students know how to party, now let's have some fun up in here!" Emily said "hey can I get in on this?" Mabel asked, "sure thing girlfriend come on in." I said

But in all our excitement we didn't notice a strange thumping noise coming from outside. But Jane did

* * *

"hey Ethen do you hear that?" Jane asked, but we didn't hear her over our excitement. "Teenagers really are dumb." Jane said to herself "hold on Jane." Emily said running up to her "haven't you watched any horror movies. When the main character goes outside in the dead of night to investigate a strange sound, they almost always get killed. You're not going anywhere without a buddy. Now come on let's go see what's going on out there." Emily said, "Hey we're going outside to investigate a weird thumping sound." Emily said "o-ok" Ethen said with a mouth full, half listening.

* * *

When the girls got outside, they sew a red-haired geek hitting tennis balls with a hockey stick. They were hitting the garage making the thump. "What are you doing?" Jane asked "what does it look like I'm doing?" the Geek said "trespassing." Jane replied "why don't you make like an egg and beat it?" the Geek said "what are you doing here at the dead of night anyway, what could've possibly made you think that I'm so bored I'm going to hit tennis balls with my hockey stick, on some random kid's garage. You better get out of here kid before you get yourself caught." Emily threatened, "yeah and I'm going to tell my big brother." Jane threatened, "really I'm so scared!" he scoffed. "I've seen you, brother, he might be older, but he's not big." The geek said "Hey, fetch" the nerd said taking Jane's stuffed rabbit and hitting her toy with the hockey stick "Abby!" Jane exclaimed while Emily and Jane went to retrieve Abby something or someone flew over Ethen's house and kidnaped the Geek "you know I have the right to call the police on you?" Emily said, "w- where did he go did you see him leave?" Emily asked Jane "n-no did you?" Jane asked "no" Emily replied. Emily took out her rainbow wand and took Jane by the hand, but when the Geek's shoe fell from the sky, they both let out a scream.

And at that moment Ethen and Jane's parents Ross and Samantha Morgan pulled into the driveway and were shocked to see Emily and Jane outside and screaming Mrs. Morgen came out of the car to see if Jane was ok "Honey? Honey? What's wrong are you hurt? What are you two doing outside? Ethen?" She called out. Ethen and Benny came running out with there, mouths still full of food "hey, you're home early. How was date night?" Ethen asked "hey what's with all the commotion? Oh boy," I said seeing Emily, Jane and Ethen's parents outside. "Well this has been fun, but I think we should be going now," I said putting on my backpack "come on Mabe's let's go" I said "What! Now? But the movie was getting to the good part!" Mabel exclaimed "let's go, see you tomorrow Ethen," I said leaving "yeah, I think I should go too have a nice night now." Benny said running off "well, I have no explanation for what just happened so I'm just gonna go. Hey, guys wait for me!" Emily said running to catch up with us.


	2. New School, New Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One week after the events at Ethen's house. Ethen is no longer trusted by his parents to look after Jane and they hire a babysitter named Erica. Trying to be cool in high school is going to be harder then he thought.

A week has passed since the events at Ethen's house, and my girls and I got ready for another day at Whitechapel High. Now don't ask me how: Myself, Mabel, Chloe, and Mimi got in because I have honestly no idea how Amy managed to pull it off. Now you probably think that this is the first week that my friends and I have stepped into the school but. We have already been to the school before as there was an optional orientation held at the school for newcomers that most of us attended.

When we got there, we met up with Ethen and Benny again, but after what happened last week Ethen got in a lot of trouble.

"A babysitter? For you? Classic! Benny said laughing "Shh! Keep down, man. This kind of info could totally ruin a guy's rep. And it's not for me; it's for Jane." Ethen said "What rep you guys just got here I'm sure in about a week you two are going to get labeled as geeks anyway. Ha, ha, ha." Emily said, "She's got a point." I said "well on the positive side one of these primo high school babes could totally be at your house tonight. Hey, hot stuff." Benny said flirting with a girl passing by. "Dude." Ethen said embarrassed by his best friend's antics "what?" Benny asked. "All I know is her name is Erica, and she goes to this school. With any luck, I can talk my parents out of it by tonight." Ethen said

"Yeah can we talk about what happened last week, it really freaked me out. The kid just vanished like he got lifted off the ground or something all Jane and I could find was his shoe." Emily said, "Hmm, maybe he got abducted by space aliens?" Benny suggested, "no way, maybe a bird kidnaped him." Amy said "a bird? Seriously?! What bird could possibly be big enough to lift a person?!" Emily asked, "Hey it could've been a hawk or another big bird native to Canada." Amy said, "Or maybe it was a vampire!" Mabel suggested. "What?" Amy said "seriously?" Emily said "what vampires: can fly, and they can also lift things twice there height and weight, and they also have an undying thirst for human blood! Once you think about it, it makes sense." Mabel said "what that makes no sense," Benny said, "oh yeah, like space aliens make any more sense?!" Emily argued "hey, hey guys, guys let's not argue ok. I'm sure there is a logical explanation for what happened last week. It was probably just a simple kidnapping and I'm pretty sure he's fine." Amy reassured us "speaking of which Emily isn't that the guy that we're talking about?" Mabel asked pointing to a missing person poster with the boy's face on it. The poster was being put up by the school's principal "yeah that's him." Emily confirmed

"Ah, hey Principal Hicks. Let me give you a hand" said a boy who was passing through with his friends and holding Hicks's coffee for him. The boy's name was Jesse he was tall had dark hair, pale skin, slender (and was not a vampire.) "Oh, thank you, Jesse. Much better." Principal Hicks said "well anything for our fearless leader. Do you mind?" Jesse said taking a sip of Hicks's coffee. "Ah French roast," Jesse said "French roast" Hicks repeated "good choice," Jesse said "good choice" Hicks repeated Jesse gave Hicks his coffee back and went on his merry way. But not before noticing us.

"Hey, Jesse how's it going?" I asked "oh hi girls. It's going great. Hey, have any of you guys seen Sarah today?" Jesse asked" no sorry we just got here. But we'll keep an eye out for her." I said, "Cool thanks anyway did you guys hear about the missing teen?" Jesse asked, "Yeah, Emily saw him, but she didn't see what happen to him." I said "yeah, you wouldn't happen to know what happen to him. Would you?" Emily asked suspiciously and getting all up in his face.

"Me? Do you think I had something to do with this? Ha, ha, ha, can you believe her? You know something you are adorable." Jesse said laughing with his friends "ha, ha, ha, call me that again, and it'll be the last thing you do!" Emily threatened. "Ok, Emily that's enough," I said pulling her close to me "sorry about that. But we got to go see you around?" I asked, "Sure see you guys later." Jesse said leaving. "Is it me or is that kid a little weird?" Emily asked, "Oh boys from the drama club always making a scene." Principal Hicks said to us chuckling

""Anyway, we better get to class. See you guys later?" Amy asked "sure we can hang out at lunch." Benny said, "Sure sounds good." I said "oh, wait we can't we're hanging out with two other friends today. Maybe later or after school?" I asked, "sure thing we can hang out later on tonight if my parents are ok with having guests over while Erica is there." Ethen said "great, well then see you guys later." I said as my friends, and I walked towards our lockers.

"So when do we start performing? Come on I want people to see how talented we are." Mimi said, "Sorry Mimi, but I don't think we'll be performing any time soon." Amy said "what? Why! One of the reasons I joined your group in the first place was because you needed another dancer because of Chloe's stage fright." Mimi said "I know what I said. But now that we're living in our dimension own. I just want a normal high school experience without some sort of life-threatening disaster that we need to sort out. I just need some downtime to be normal for once." Amy said opening her locker and getting her books out. "What is with these lockers they have such a weird eco sound in them that no other locker in the school has: not even Ethen and Benny's sound this weird. Maybe there's a fake wall somewhere? I'm going to need some school blueprints." Emily said, "Emily, please don't cause any trouble ok?" Amy asked, "Let's just get to class alright?" Amy sighed "alright I promise I won't cause any trouble. Or at least not yet anyway." Emily said with a smile that we know all too well.

The next time we saw Ethen and Benny was at lunch. "Benny, this is it. Our whole future social lives could depend on how we behave for the next few days." Ethen said, "So, what do you think?" Benny asked wearing some kind of night vision goggles. "Benny!" Ethen exclaimed taking the goggles off of him. "Hey, those are alien DNA detector goggles!" Benny said, "yeah, so?" Ethen asked, "High school cafeteria is the ideal place to test them out!" Benny said "he does have a point, have you seen the stuff that they put in these lunches. Some of these ingredients are nasty. Is this even real meat?" Emily asked, "yeah, and to brand us as dorks for the next four years." Ethen said, "Just give me the goggles." Benny said arguing with Ethen over the goggles. Those kids have got to be the most dorkest dorks I have ever met." Emily said, "I don't know; I feel like these boys are going to make our days a lot less boring here." I said "hey! You guys, hey! Over here." A boy said breaking up Ethen and Benny's argument. And resulted in me waving excitedly too him.

This was Ethen and Benny's good friend Rory Keaner. He has blonde hair and wears black rimmed glasses. Rory is the type geek that even geeks call a geek. Even though Rory is: funny, cute, sweet, kind, caring, and a bit naïve his oddball personality does tend to turn away and or annoy those around him. This does include at times: Ethen, Benny, and especially Emily.

"Oh no." Benny groaned "the three amigos ride again. Any of you guys got a buck 28?" Rory asked, "I could probably spare you a little something." I said to him as I reached into my purse "oh not enough. Hey Emily can I borrow a dollar and 28cents?" "Sorry girl, I'm not getting involved. Besides, I barely have enough to buy my lunch. Which reminds me I have to see someone about my spending problems." Emily said

"Ok, that's it. I'm getting away from, you guys or I'm doomed to be Ah!" Ethen said as he was walking away but ended up spilling his lunch on another one of our new friends. Sarah Fox. "Dork! Thank you so much!" Sarah yelled and walked away. "That is one babe-tasic tower of babe-alon." Benny gushed. "Ok, this is why you don't have a girlfriend. You say weird stuff like that that scares them away! And also nice job Ethen you spilled your lunch all over our new friend Sarah!" Emily scolded "wait; you know that girl?" Ethen asked

"Yeah, we met Sarah and her best friend a day after we met you, Benny, and Rory. They were the ones that asked us to sit together at lunch today." I said which reminds me we better go before our food gets cold and there are no more good spots left. See you guys later." I said walking away with my friends. "Hey, Rory how's it going? I asked "oh, hey Dakota good it's going good. How are you doing? He asked "I'm doing great. I'm happy to see you; I haven't seen that much this week." I said, "Yeah, hey I was wondering if maybe you and your friends would like to sit with us today?" Rory asked "sorry we're sitting with two other friends today. But maybe we could hang out later? Or tomorrow? Or maybe I could sit with you guys on Monday?" I said, "Sounds good to me." Rory said "great, anyway see you guys later. Our friends are waiting for us" I said walking away with my group "later cutes." Mabel said "later dorks." Emily said as we walked to meet up with Sarah and her best friend, Erica Jones.

As we walked to the table that we were meeting Sarah and Erica at. I couldn't help but look back at Ethen, Benny, and Rory. "He is so cute," I said quietly to myself.

So you see when we first moved into town Ethen, Benny, and Rory was the first to say hi to us, and we became fast friends with them. The next day we met Sarah and Erica when we went to get Mabel her tickets for the Dusk movie Sarah and Erica were the ones in charge of giving out the tickets, and since we were the last ones in line for the day. We quickly became friends with them as well. Just like Mabel, Sarah and Erica are vampire fans. Erica also happens to be president of the Dusk fan club. Just like Rory Erica has Blonde hair, and wears glasses but hers are pink rimmed instead of black. Sarah, on the other hand, has brown hair and tanned skin. She is also Jesse's girlfriend (you know the boy we met earlier.)

"Sarah, girls wait up! Where have you been? I've been texting you all day. Oh, what happened to your shirt?" Erica asked Sarah "ugh. Don't ask." Sarah said, "Our friend Ethen accidentally spilled his lunch on her when he was walking away." I said, "Is that the name of one of the boys you girls have been hanging out with?" Erica asked "yeah, Ethen and his best friend, Benny. They live in the same neighborhood we do. Ethen's house is five minutes down the road walking distance. I think Benny's is a little further from us, but I think it's a one or two-minute difference."

I said "ok, guess what I already have 200 tickets sold for the screening. Only seven more days. I seriously think if I had to wait eight more days instead of seven more days, I would go crazy." Erica said, "yeah, me too." Sarah said "you skipped math today. Where you with Jesse?" Erica asked excitedly "yes" Sarah answered, "if I had a cute boyfriend, I'd totally skip class too." Erica said which led to us staring at her in disbelief. "What? I would! Do you think you're the only one that can break the rules?" Erica asked, "no, but you're a good girl." Sarah said "so are you" I don't know anymore." Sarah said "straight A's, always nice to everyone, trust me you are. Anyways I saved you two seats Jesse's coming right? Erica asked, "No he's not a real Dusk fan." Sarah said "what! How can you date someone who doesn't like Dusk? The second book changed my life. Erica said, "Yeah I know." Sarah said chucking.

"But you are going right?" Mable asked "you cannot, not go. This is the biggest vampire movie of the year! I have been waiting my entire life for this! I've already watched Dusk 1 and 2 at least fifteen times already!" She said, "yeah, we know whenever there's a vampire movie on you always drag us into it." Emily said "that reminds me though. You girls are coming, right? Erica asked I didn't give you guys those complimentary tickets for nothing." "Oh, gee that sounds great. My Friday night being spent in a crowded theater, with a bunch of screaming fangirls, while watching an overrated piece of garbage!" Emily said taking us all aback. "Sorry Erica, I'm just not into these vampire movies. Plus I just don't get how vampires became so popular in the first place. There was a time where vampires weren't depicted as these emotionless, hot sexy pieces of eye candy. Besides, I'm busy that night anyway." Emily said "doing what?" Sarah asked "doing just about anything else! I'll hang out with those geeks if I have too! Emily said pointing to the table that Ethen, Benny, and Rory were sitting at.

"I'm out too. Sorry, I'm not into these vampire movies either, plus I'm actually busy that night." Amy said, "Yeah, doing what?" Erica asked "studying." Amy replied to that everyone bust out laughing. "Ha, ha, ha studying? Amy, it's a Friday night; you don't have to worry about that stuff for three days." Erica said "yeah I do. I want to have good grades plus I don't do fun the same way you guys do. My idea of fun is curling up with a good book and-." "Boring people to death." Emily interrupted "alright, what about the rest? You guys want to go?" Erica asked, "I might consider going." Chloe said "but she can't. Its way past Chloe's bedtime. Plus It's rated PG.13 she's only five." Cindy said "and I'm out to because someone has to take care of my little sister, and I don't feel like being in a theater with a bunch of screaming girls anyway. Ugh, it will give me a headache!" She said

"We might go. If were not completely over loaded on homework." Esamanad said "what about you Mimi? You seem to be kind of into this stuff. Lizzy said "you bet I am the chance to see some hot guys is not something I'm going to miss. Besides ever sense I watched these movies I have been looking out for other movies the actors may have stared in. I have already found five and queued them on Netflix. It's going to be a good weekend for me! Mimi said excitedly "what about you Dakota? You want to go?" Erica asked but I wasn't listening I was too busy getting lost in my daydream as I stared at the table Ethen, Benny and Rory was sitting at. "Dakota, Dakota! Hello Earth to Dakota!" Erica shouted "what huh? Sorry I wasn't listening. What were we talking about? I asked "Dakota you have been staring at that table for the past 15 minutes. Do you have a crush on one of those boys?" Erica asked

"Yeah she does, and she's got it pretty bad too might I just say." Emily butted in "oh, which one does she like?" Sarah asked excited to be engaged in girl talk "she likes that blonde haired boy. Rory ever senses that incident in Chemistry class on Monday. Huh, she developed chemistry in the Chemistry lab, what are the odds?" Emily said "oh yeah I heard about that. What exactly happened?" Erica asked "some joker thought it would be a good idea to switch two labels of two highly reactive and highly hazardous chemicals. Dakota and Rory were paired up for the assignment when they put in the wrong chemical thinking it was the right one instead of a simple smoke effect like it was supposed to do it boiled over. Thankfully they caught the perpetrator, and no one was hurt. He got suspended for three months." Amy said

"Well I think he should've gotten expelled, his little prank could have seriously hurt someone not to mention it could've hurt Dakota. Thank goodness Rory thought fast and pulled her out of the way. Anyway after those events the rest was history. No seriously she couldn't focus at all during History class." Emily said "after he pulled me out of the way I looked up into his beautiful green eyes and in the most cliché romantic movie moment. My heart just stopped. He is so cute I just can't take it!" I gushed "yeah he is, Rory is a total hottie!" Mabel said "oh, you to Mabel?" Emily groaned "yeah, me to! I don't care what you say Rory is hot with a capital H, and an O, and a T, and like fifteen explanation points!" Mabel said "ok, Mabe's that's kind of over doing it a bit. He's hot with a capital H.O.T and five explanation points." I said

"I'm serious. The only thing that would make Rory hotter is if he was a vampire. So I could go out with him and say I dated a vampire! In case you guys haven't noticed I love vampires!" Mabel said, "Yeah, Mabel we noticed." I said, "What do think it would be like dating a vampire anyway?" Emily asked "I don't know. Hopefully better then what's depicted in the movies." Mabel said, "Anyways, I am so tempted to ask Rory out to see the movie with me being the cutie I am how could he resist." She said "sorry Mabe's but good luck getting any of the boys to go with you; I don't think any of them are into this stuff. Not that I blame them." I said "but you're going right? Come on seeing a vampire movie with your new best friend. You do want to go right?" Mabel asked "sorry Mabel and sorry Erica. But I don't really like the theater plus I'm not the biggest vampire fangirl like you guys. It's just not my cup of tea. You're probably better off selling the tickets to someone who will go to the movie, so they don't go to waste. But can you still take the others?" I asked

"I understand these movies might be a little old for some of you anyway. But I'm still going to hold on to them for you just in case you change your minds." Erica said "thanks Erica you rock. I said "I hate to break up this touching moment but… Hottie alert at 6'oclook!" Mimi said "oh, is it Rory?" I asked 'no, it's Benny." Mimi said "act, cool ladies!" Mabel said

"Hi there." Benny said sliding into an empty chair "hee hee hi Benny how's it going bud." I said cheerily "I'm doing well but. Are you by any chance babysitting the Morgan's tonight?" Benny asked Erica "yeah, why do you know their kids? Erica asked, "Yeah, one of them is my buddy, sitting right over there." Benny said pointing over to Ethen who was hiding his head in shame, Rory was also looking at us through the night vision goggles and waved to us Mabel and I also waved back to him excitedly. "He's a little shy." Benny said, "Hey, Benny you still down for hanging out tonight?" I asked "yeah, I'm good I'm sure Ethen will be fine with it too with Erica being there. So hopefully we see you girls tonight" Benny said, "sounds great see you guys later." I said, "See you around." Benny said taking his leave

"You'll love those boys they are adorable." I said "yeah, I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun tonight. Do you think maybe you could help me with my homework?" Emily asked, "Thanks guys I'm sure will become great friends." Erica said, "Any way we better get to class." Sarah said, "Right behind you." I said as we left the lunchroom and went to get ready for our next class.

When school finished my friends, and I was walking down the hallway to meet up with Ethen and Benny hoping to walk home with them and get to know them better. "So, if Benny is the accelerator and Ethen's the breaks. What does make Rory?" I asked, "Simple, the spare tire." Emily said to that response we all burst out laughing "I know I shouldn't laugh at that but. Emily that was a good one." I said trying to catch my breath "so anyways, where do you guys think the boys are?" I asked, "Probably waiting by the entrance." Emily said, "Do you think Rory is there with them?" I asked, "probably, why?" Because I was wondering if maybe Rory would like to hang out with me for a little while. He could walk home with us, or I could go to his house. I want to get to know him better and see if he's the right boy for me." I said "hmm, probably not a good idea, first of all, you're ten and Rory's fourteen that's a four year age difference the gap is just too big.

Not to mention the side effects you've been developing. I mean your uncontrollable wing fluttering problem, also do you remember that incident on Wednesday? You legitimately fainted right in front of him, while I was filming my vlog. I like to call this whole thing your little love, dove, crush, blush. Or the crush blush for short." Emily said "obviously, you can still hang out with him and all that stuff. Just don't expect anything special ok? You're still a little young for this kind of love girl." She said, "Hey look, there's "hey look, there's Ethen and Benny come on guys let's go." Amy said

We walked outside with the boys when all of a sudden Benny's phone beeped. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked it "hey, check it out: looks like they found the rest of that missing senior." Benny said "the rest?" Ethen asked, "yeah, what do you mean by that?" Amy asked "yeah, says right here he was all shriveled up. You know kind of like this juice box" Benny said holding up his juice box but ended up squirting some on Ethen's face "I am so sorry I didn't-" dude." Ethen said

Wiping his face "who would do such a thing? Let alone, how would they do such a thing?" Amy asked, "I have an idea." Mabel said "Mabel! Don't you dare say, vampires!" Amy exclaimed "what? It could still be a possibility." "Mabel, Vampires don't even exist!" "How would you know? You haven't seen one have you?" Mabel said, "Of course I haven't they don't exist!" Amy exclaimed, "Well, that just proves it, they could still be out there somewhere." Mabel said, "Well, she's got you there." I said, "Hey look, there's Sarah." Emily pointed out "oh, bummer. Looks like she's already hooked up with Mr. Too-cool- for-school." Benny said, "Did somebody mention my name." Rory said running up to us and putting his arms on Ethen and Benny' shoulders "Hi Rory, how's it going?" I asked shyly "I'm doing great, how about you?" He asked "hee, hee, hee, I'm fine," I said giggling "hey, who is that guy?" Ethen asked

"That's Jesse. He's been dating Sarah for a few months now, or at least I think they have. I heard that they have been having trouble with their relationship." Emily explained 'what? Really?" I asked, "Yeah, Erica told me that Sarah has been acting really strange lately, and she doesn't know why." Emily said, "Hmm, might be something we might want to keep our eyes on." I said, "There's something not right about that drama club." Ethen said "yeah, there is also something especially not right about Jesse. I can feel it in my bones." Emily said, "Emily are you sure it's not just paranoia form traveling to too many alternate universes?" Amy asked, "No, there is something seriously off about that guy he's giving me strange vibes." Emily said, "I feel it too, there is something weird about Jesse and I don't think it's a good weird." Chloe said, "Emily, not every shady person you see is necessarily up to no good." Amy said, "of course they are, that's how people get kidnaped!" Emily exclaimed

"Either way, I am so going to your house tonight." Benny said "great the more "mathletes," the merrier." Ethen said dryly "can I come?" Rory asked "no." Ethen and Benny said, "Can I come over too?" Emily asked "Erica is really smart and I could really use some help with my homework. Specifically: my math homework, and my science homework, and my chemistry homework, and my biology homework. Ok, I'm a little rusty with some of these subjects. I should really hire a tutor." Emily said, "Come on guys, let's go home." I said, "Dakota look out!" Rory exclaimed pulling me out of the way of a speeding car with Jesse's friends in it "watch it nerds!" one of Jesse's friends said laughing as they speed away. "Hey, I'm walking here! You almost ran over a ten-year-old! Jerks." Emily shouted

"Dakota, are you ok?" Mimi asked concerned "y-yeah, I-I'm fine." I said shaking I couldn't tell if I was shaking because of shock. Or because Rory was holding me very close to him but ether way I snuggled into him. "Dakota? Dakota! Are you alright? Are you hurt? Erica asked running up to us concerned. "Yeah, I'm fine. Rory pulled me out of the way just in time. Thanks Rory, I don't know how you did it but you saved me again. I'm starting to feel like I owe one. I said to him

"Oh, it's no big deal. I'm sure you girls would help us if we were in trouble." Rory said, "of course we would." Amy said "don't count on it kid. OW! Emily exclaimed when Amy nudged her with her elbow "I-I mean sure will help you any time. Ha-ha have trouble we'll travel" she said "no seriously, I owe you one, and I know just the thing. Can I hang out with you for a bit?" I asked

"Me? You want to hang out with me?" Rory asked "Yeah I do, I mean I live in the same neighborhood as Ethen and Benny, but you're a little further away from us. I just want to get to know you better, even if you're busy today we could still hang out over the weekend. I said "sure; we can go to my house. I got nothing going on at the moment, so I'm free. We can go right now." He said "really? Right now? I asked excitedly "sure, any of you want to come?" Rory asked "sorry I got some homework I got to get done." Emily said "I would love to go. But I have some things I need to get done too. But you two have fun ok? Mabel said "hey, I have an idea. How about we all walk together before we all go our separate ways?" Erica suggested, "Yeah, sounds great." Cindy said "sure, why not. Come on Dakota let's have some fun." Rory said, "Thanks Rory, you're the best!" I said hugging him.


	3. A Nightmare to Remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A girl spending time with Rory is as rare as Benny getting a date with one. But, it's just the calm before the storm because Emily may have been onto something about Jesse not being who he says to be

As me and my friends walked to the road that leads to Rory's house, Emily couldn't stop talking about her conspiracy theories.

* * *

"I mean seriously, Jesse looks like a living Dusk character, he also always wears black, and have you noticed that most of the drama club members wear sunglasses when it's not even that sunny out." Emily explained, "Emily, you're just being paranoid." Amy said some people can have a condition that makes their eyes more light sensitive than others. And Jesse wears black because he's Goth and he's also a vampire fan. You're overthinking things vampires don't exist. Well, not in this universe anyway." Amy said "but it would be awesome if they did though. Again, really want to date a vampire." Mabel said "hey, do you guys remember when vampires were considered monsters?" Emily asked "not these hot, sexy teenagers. They used to ugly, lived in dark, dreary castles, slept during the day in coffins, hunted at night, sunlight, holy water, and garlic being there only weakness's, and the whole "I'm gonna drink your blood. Blah blah blah." Emily said which had us burst into laughter. "So true Emily, so true." Mabel laughed "yeah, you got us there." I said laughing as we got to the sidewalk.

* * *

One way leads to Rory's house the other leads to Ethen, Benny's and our house's

"Well, looks like this is where we go our separate ways." I said when we got to the sidewalk "see you guys later." I said "yeah, see you later on tonight. Dakota and Erica." Emily said "Ethen, Benny, Rory it was a pleasure meeting all of you. See you, boys, tonight." Erica said being the first to leave "alright Rory before you go got a couple of ground rules for ya."Emily said, "first of all don't get too lovely you two, second of all make sure you have her home before the street lamps turn on." Emily said, "What does that have to do with anything?" I asked "I don't know it's just a rule our dad had when we were alive. "Now you girls get home before the street lamps turn on." She quoted "in other words just make sure she gets home before dinner." "Emily, relax I can take care of her; we're fine." Rory said, "Yeah, Emily I'll be a good girl, I promise." I reassured her "alright I trust you, just remember where hanging out with Ethen, Benny, and Erica after dinner." Emily reminded "I know, I'll remember." I said, "See you guys later." Rory said as we all went our separate ways.

* * *

As we walked to he's house Rory and I talked about our interests and hobby's, I was a little shy at first. But I quickly got over it. , We didn't have much in common, but it didn't bother me. I liked him too much, besides you know what they say. "Different strokes for different folks." When we got to Rory's house, I meet his mother, Vivian Keaner. After talking to her for a few minutes Rory and I went upstairs to his room and started playing video games together and pretty soon his room, with our laughter and we just lost track of time. I ended up staying at his house for a few hours. We just finished a game we were playing and stopped for a break to talk to each other.

* * *

"Phew, that was a good game; you almost won that last match." I said "yeah, you're pretty good at this. We've been hanging out for a while now have we?" Rory said "yeah, we have. Thanks for letting me come over, I have wanted to get to know you better for a while now. I mean I like Ethen and Benny, but I really like you to." I said, "Aww, I like you to." He said, "Your friends are really nice to how long have you known them for?" "I've known them since I was five. We've been through a lot together if I told you. You probably wouldn't believe me." I said, "but either way, I like it here Ethen said it can get boring here after a while but I think after everything we've been through this is just what we need." I said

"Yeah, you're pretty good friends with Sarah and Erica, but what do you think of Jesse?" Rory asked "I don't know. Sarah introduced me to him, but we don't interact often. I agree with Emily though there is something off about him like he has some kind of dark secret. But I do kind of like him. You know as a friend." I said, "Your friends are a real good judge of character." Rory said, "yeah, there special that way." I replied looking up at the clock that was hanging on Rory's wall "oh my goodness! Is that the time?" I asked urgently "yeah its 5'oclock you really have been here for a while." He said "oh, it's going to be dark soon. I'm sorry Rory I have to go. Emily will kill me if I'm home too late." I said as I grabbed my backpack and went downstairs "hold on, let me take you back to Ethen's house." Rory said following me downstairs "really?" I asked, "Yeah, I mean it will probably be better if I go with you, so no one sees a ten-year-old girl walking all alone." He said "well, it would be a good excuse for us to hang out some more. And I doubt I would be able to find my way back anyway. Sure you can walk me back. Thanks, Rory I appreciate it." I said, "No problem, here let me help you get your jacket on." Rory said

We both got our jackets on and headed out the door as we walked backed to my neighborhood. I told Rory everything I could about my adventures with Emily and the others. It took us an hour to get back, and it was already dark outside. I know for sure that Emily would kill me, but maybe she would understand knowing that I had too much fun with Rory. To be honest, I had a lot of fun telling him all about the crazy adventures that I had with Emily and the others, and he believed me too. Though he seemed to be the type of boy that would believe just about anything.

* * *

"Man, it sure got dark fast huh." I said "yeah, it sure did. What time did Erica say she was coming again?" Rory asked "actually; I forgot to ask her what time she was coming over. Oh, well, I better call Emily and tell her why I'm getting home so late." I said pulling my cell phone from my pocket.

* * *

"Hello." Emily said picking up "Hey Emily; it's me." I said "oh, hey girl I hope you're home its dark out, and the streetlights are on. What are you up to?" Emily asked, "Well, about that uh haha I'm actually walking home right now I'm almost there, but don't worry Rory's here with me." I said "WHAT!" Emily exclaimed so loud that even Rory flinched "ugh, Emily you know I was hanging out with Rory. Sorry, I just lost track of time. At least Rory was kind enough to walk me back." I said, "no, you're right; it's probably better that people don't see a flying ten-year-old girl." Emily said over the phone.

"Anyway speaking of people running late, apparently Erica is a no show." Emily said "what? What happened did she cancel at the last minute?" I asked "no, no, no, she's just late. Mrs. Morgen called us fifteen minutes ago asking if Erica was with us when ten minutes passed and still no sign of her I figured she must still be at the school. So I thought I would pick her up and give her a ride to Ethen's house. She's been asking for a ride on the warp star for days now so I thought I'd give her a special treat." Emily explained "anyway, Ethen's folks are ok with us hanging out at their house for a little while, and they do mean a little while.'" She said "All right, its 6'oclook and dinner should be ready. I'll see you with Erica in about ten to fifteen minutes as soon as I find a road that doesn't have too many onlookers. See you soon girlfriend." Emily said hanging up.

* * *

"So? What did she say?" Rory asked "Erica's running a little late. So, Emily's gone to the school to pick her up. She'll be back in about ten to fifteen minutes." I said, "Well, we're almost there." Rory said it's been great hanging out with you Dakota." "Thanks, I had a lot of fun with you too. I'm surprised people don't like you more; you are really cute." I said "wait? You think I'm cute?" he asked "yeah, I do. You are a total sweetheart and I think you're really adorable. I really like you, Rory." I said blushing a little but I couldn't tell if he noticed or not. "That has got to be the sweetest thing a girl has ever said to me," Rory said pulling me close to him and I snuggled into him it felt nice.

"Hey, look there's Amy and the others." I said pointing to the girls coming into view

* * *

"sorry Mable, but romantic moments like that just don't happen like in the movies." Amy said, "Mock all you want girl, but I have a feeling that the boy of my dreams is going to walk right up to me right about now." Mabel said, "Hey guys, how's it going." I said "wow I was right! The boy of my dreams really did show up." Mabel said wide-eyed "come on Mabel it's just Rory." Mimi teased "I'll take what I can get." Mabel replied "Dakota great to see you got back safely. Thanks for bringing her back Rory. Did you two have fun?" Amy said yeah, lots of fun Dakota is a really good friend." Rory said, "Yeah, she's a good girl." Cindy said, "Still no sign of Emily and Erica?" "No, but I'm sure she'll be back soon." I said "yeah, I don't blame her if she gets back late. It's really hard to fly the warp star around here with all the cars and people walking around." Amy said "oh, Dakota. I brought you some dinner. I figured you didn't eat at Rory's house, so I brought you some. I'm sure Ethen's mom won't mind if you ate here." She said, "Thanks Amy, I am really hungry." I said, "well come on guys; we better get inside and wait for Emily and Erica to show up." Cindy said heading for the front door with the others "yeah, I'll be there in a second. So what are you going to do now go home? I asked "Nah, the night's still young. I thank I'll hang out at the video game store for a while and maybe get a game to enjoy for the weekend. But I'll say hi to Ethen and his parents just so they know I got you here safely." Rory said

Well, that sounds like fun. Maybe over the weekend, I could hang out with you again and Benny and Ethen." I said "yeah, I'm they would love that. I normally hang out with them over the weekend anyway. But it would be nice for us to get to know you and your friends a bit better. Come on looks like your friends are waiting for you." Rory said Rory and I went up to the front door and he rang the doorbell Mrs. Morgan was the one who opened the door for us. "Oh hi girls, hi Rory. Ethen Rory and the girls are here." Mrs. Morgan said calling out to Ethen "actually, I'm not saying I'm just here to drop off Dakota. She was hanging out at my house, and it was getting late, so I decided to walk her home." Rory said "oh, well that was nice. Ethen told me you two were spending time together. I hope you two had fun. And where's Emily and Erica? I thought she would be here by now." Mrs. Morgan said "oh yeah, Emily is getting Erica. They should be here soon." Amy explained, "Hey, I brought some dinner for Dakota is it ok if she eats it here?" Amy asked "sure, Ethen and Jane are having dinner now, and for dessert, we're having chocolate ice cream. Would you like some honey?" Mrs. Morgan asked me "mmm, that sound delicious. I would love some. Chocolate ice cream is my favorite." I said

Great, anyway I should probably heat this up for you Amy can I have her- thank you. This will be done in a minute." Mrs. Morgan said walking off to heat my dinner up "well; I should be going now. Dakota thank you for a wonderful evening." Rory said "thanks Rory; I had a lot of fun too. I can't wait to hang out with you over the weekend and get to know you better. So see you tomorrow?" I said, "Yeah, I'll see you guys tomorrow." Rory said, "hey Rory?" I asked "yeah" he replied, "Can I have a quick hug before you go?" "Sure, bring it in," he said as I ran to him to get my goodbye hug. I hugged him tightly, and I even rubbed my cheek up against his a little I was just so happy I felt like I could have stayed in that moment forever. But eventually, I had to let him go. "Wow, you got a tight grip. I should go now. See you tomorrow." Rory said, "Bye Rory, I love you." I said blowing him a kiss "I love you too." He replied, and I went inside Ethen's house to join my friends.

* * *

I ate dinner with Ethen and Jane and afterword's we had dessert. After we were done eating, I told everyone about my time spent with Rory. As I told them they all just smiled, they were happy that Rory and I got along so well. Even Ethen was happy that his good friend made a new friend. After I was finished telling my story, our attention shifted to where Emily and Erica might be and what was taking them. "It must be pretty embarrassing needing a babysitter in high school." Jane said, "What makes you say that?" Cindy asked, "Well, he's fourteen, and he couldn't even take care of me last week." Jane said "well, we did get a little over excited last week. Sorry, Jane." I apologized "apology accepted. But you're not the ones who should be apologizing." She said "howdy parners."

Mrs. Morgan said in a country accent "ain't she purdy as a 20 dollar bill in a 10-gallon hat?" Mr. Morgan said in his own country accent "oh, well, thank you, kind sir." Mrs. Morgan said, "Wow, Samantha you look so pretty." I said "yeah, Ross looking good. Love the cowpoke get up." Cindy said "why to thank you little lady's. We're going country line-dancing." Mrs. Morgan said, "Yeah, I kind of noticed." Ethen said "um, Mom? Dad? I just want to say you were right. I shouldn't have left Jane untended last week. I learned my lesson. So, you can cancel the sitter and save 25 dollars." He said Ethen, I already told you, I'm not going to leave you alone with Jane until I know you can be trusted." Mrs. Morgan said walking off "sorry pal, she's the sheriff." Mr. Morgan said

But Ethen wasn't satisfied "fine! I'll be in my room. Alone." He said as he packed up his homework and went upstairs. "Teenagers, am I right?" Mimi said, "I should probably talk to him shouldn't I?" I asked "well a normal friend would. But I don't think Ethen is looking for a friend right now." Mable said, "Well I don't blame him for acting this way." Amy butted in "I mean being labeled as a geek since childhood, trying to be cool in high school but has two nice but embarrassing friends, and the tip of the iceberg. Needs a babysitter because his overprotective parents don't trust him to look after his own little sister." Amy said, "just give him some time he'll come around, I'm sure once Emily and Erica get here he'll be having fun with the rest of us." She said "I know, I just don't want him being rude to Erica when she gets here. The last thing she needs is someone giving her the cold shoulder for no good reason. But I still think I should talk to him." I said getting up from my chair and heading upstairs.

* * *

Ethen was alone in his room doing his homework and listening to some music when Benny called him on video chat. "Hey, man any sign of the babe-o-sitter yet?" Benny asked, "No, I'm staying in my room as a form of protest." Ethen said dryly "well, I'm not. First sign of Babezilla approaching, and I am there." Benny said "good luck with that." Ethen said about to end the video chat when I knocked on his door. "Who is it?" Ethen called out "Ethen; it's me can I come in?"

I asked, "sure thing, come on in Dakota." He said "thanks bud." I said coming into his bedroom and noticing Benny on Ethen's computer. "Hey Benny, I didn't know you two had video chat. Oh, Rory's on there too that's nice." I said coming closer to Ethen's computer screen "how are you doing Benny?" I asked "I'm doing fine. Hey, how did it go with Rory? Did you two have fun?" Benny asked "it went great he is just so sweet. I even got back late because we just had so much fun together. But he did walk me back here, so that was nice of him." I said, "You really aren't like any other girls are you?" Benny asked suspiciously "what's that supposed to mean? What? I can't like one of your friends." I said, "Well, the thing is no girl has ever hanged out with Rory before." Ethen said "what? Just because I think he's funny, sweet, fun to hang out with, and kind of cute does that automatically mean something." I said

But Ethen and Benny smiled at me as if they know I was hiding something from them. I hesitated at first but eventually I caved in. "alright fine, I kind of have a little crush on him." I said "wait, on Rory?" Benny asked laughing even Ethen snickered a little bit "you like Rory? Seriously?" he asked still laughing "yeah, seriously. That's it. I'm going back downstairs to see what Jane is up to." I said annoyed as I got up from the foot of Ethen's bed and went to his door. "No, no wait. Dakota, I'm sorry come back here when did this start?" Benny asked catching his breath. "Do you guys remember the chemistry class incident last Monday?" I asked as I went back to sit on Ethen's bed "yeah, I told them I didn't do it" Benny said "yeah, it started after Rory saved me. I'm sure you guys must have noticed the signs: my wings fluttering, I fainted when I was talking to him on Wednesday, didn't you guys notice me staring at you guys at lunch today?" I asked "yeah, we did. See E I told you she was checking us out." Benny said, "No, you said she was checking you out." Ethen said, "Well either way, did you tell him you have a little thing for him?" Benny asked "no, not exactly I mean I just met him a week ago and I am only ten, so I don't think I'm ready to tell him yet. But could you not tell him I like him? I really want to tell him myself" I said

"Sure, your secrets safe with us. But I do have a question, who else knows about this little crush of yours?" Ethen asked "Sarah, Erica, the rest of my friends. Don't tell anyone but Mabel has a little thing for him too. Her brother says she's going through her boy crazy faze, but I think she really does like him." I said "well, either way, you might be a little young for him, but it seems like you two are becoming close friends and will be here to look out for you. Right Ethen?" Benny asked, "Yeah, yeah, of course, we got your back." Ethen said, "Thanks guys I appreciate the support." I said "no problem, look I need to go let me know when Erica gets here so we can talk in person. See you guys later." Benny said ending the video call "did I ever tell you that you are the sweetest boys I have ever met." I said "thanks Dakota, so you came here for a reason what did you need? Come here." Ethen said opening his arms for me to sit on his lap "I came here to check up on you and make sure you wouldn't-"be rude to Erica when she gets here." Ethen said finishing my sentence "yeah" "don't worry I'll be nice to her. I'll even come downstairs and hang out with you guys when she gets here." Ethen said "really? You'll do that?" I asked, "Yeah, I'll do it for you." Ethen said, "Besides it would be a great way for us to get to know each other better." He said, "Thanks bud, hey what time is it?" I asked, "It's 7 o'clock you've been here for an hour already." Ethen said "where is Emily? She should be here with Erica already." I said

* * *

Downstairs Amy and the others were also waiting for them to arrive "she should be here." Mrs. Morgan said looking out the door for any sign of Erica "I'm sure they're fine and will be here soon. Maybe they got caught up in something." Amy suggested.

* * *

Emily was flying on her warp star trying to get to the school to pick up Erica but ended up getting lost when she was trying to find a street that didn't have any bystanders, so no one saw a shooting star with a heartless on it. "Nice job Emily, not only did get yourself lost at that last turn but everyone is probably wondering where you are." She said to herself "I just hope I find my way there soon or else I'll be flying out here all night. Oh, there she is." She said When Erica got into Emily's view.

She jumped off the warp star and landed on a nearby tree branch she was about to fly over to her when she saw Sarah in the distance coming down the school steps to where Erica was. So, Emily decided to stay where she was and see how it would play out.

* * *

"Hey." Sarah said, "Sarah, oh, my gosh, you scared me." Erica said startled "I wanted to apologize. I haven't been the greatest friend lately." Sarah said "yeah, I miss hanging out with you. You don't even text me anymore." Erica said "things are kind of weird right now, I can't really-"no, it's ok, I get it. I'm not cool enough for you since you started dating Jesse." Erica said, "No, that's not it I swear." Sarah said "then what? We're supposed to be organizing this fan club screening together." Erica said

"I know my life is just really complicated right now." Sarah said, "this is the one we get to find out if he bites her or not." Erica said "I know, but it is just a movie" "just a movie?" Erica gasped "oh, my gosh. Who are you?! I have to go; I have a babysitting job to do. I will see you around Dusk abandoner." She said storming off "wow, Erica that's cold." Emily said quietly still watching the girls from the tree. "Erica! Okay, fine. You're right; it is because of Jesse, but it's not how you think." Sarah said just then Jesse, and his friends came floating down from the sky.

"Well speak of the devil." Jesse said startling Sarah, Erica and Emily "wah, how did he do that?" Emily whispered to herself "hello again." Jesse's friend Gord said to Erica "hello again." She replied, "You're not avoiding me are you?" Jesse asked, "Oh, she's avoiding a lot of people." Erica said, "come on; what are you afraid of?" Jesse asked, "I just need some more time." Sarah said "tick tock Time's up." He said, "So, anyway, listen there's this monster party at Jesse's house later, and if Sarah is not interested, maybe you'd like to hang out with us." Gord said, "But she can't; She's babysitting." Sarah said, "No, I'm not, count me in." "Erica, no!" Sarah said "I am allowed to break the rules to. And he's really cute." Erica said excitedly "you don't understand!" "Okay, the rest of you, go on ahead. Sarah and I need to have a little talk. Jesse said Erica waved goodbye and went off with Jesse's friends, but keep in mind that Emily was still watching them from the tree and she wasn't going anywhere.

"You said I could choose Jesse; you said it was up to me!" Sarah said, "It is, but hey some decisions need a little push." Jesse said pulling her closer to him, but she slapped him in the face to get him to back off "come on, Sarah can't you feel it? Your body knows what it wants." Jesse said, "Lucky for me, I think with my brain." Sarah said attempting to leave "You're not going anywhere." Jesse said stopping her in her tracks. But this time Sarah kicked him and two of them got into a fight. And they were heard all the way back at Ethen's house.

* * *

"What in the world, it sounds like a pack of wolfs outside!" I said as Ethen looked outside "hmm, you're right what is going on out there?" He said just then Benny came back on video chat "you guys hear that? Sounds like ultimate raccoon fighting in our back yards! Sounds huge!" Benny said holding up one of his speakers.

Now I wasn't there, so I have no idea what happened with Sarah and Jesse but according to Emily she was watching Sarah and Jesse duke it out from the safety of her tree eating popcorn. And I believe her (except for the popcorn part.)

* * *

"Why fight it, Sarah? You're the one who said you liked vampires." Jesse said, "I never said I wanted to be one!" Sarah said pushing Jesse down "you shouldn't have done that." Jesse said in a deep distorted voice and throwing Sarah up into the air like she was a ragdoll. "Sarah!" Emily exclaimed hoping onto her warp star and coming to her rescue. Emily was able to use her rainbow wand to rope Sarah's waist "it's, okay Sarah, I got you I got you!" Emily said attempting to pull her up onto the warp star "uh oh, I don't get you I don't get you. Ahhhh!" But Sarah was proven to heavier and caused Emily to fall off of her warp star, land on Ethen's roof, and tumble into the bushes causing a loud thump that startling everyone inside

* * *

"I heard a crash, is everyone alright!?" I asked concerned "yeah, sounds like part of a tree hit the house." Mr. Morgan said

* * *

Outside Emily and Sarah were recovering from there crash landing "uh, uh Sarah?! Are you alright?!" Emily asked "yeah, I'm fine thank you. You saved me in the nick of time. But what were you doing at the school?" Sarah asked "I was there to pick up Erica. But I saw everything. What was that about?! Jesse just came out of nowhere! And he throws you like a ragdoll and and all I have I to say about this is. What the heck?!" Emily exclaimed, "Trust me you don't want to know." Sarah said trying to calm her down "after everything I just saw. I think I do!" Emily said "fine; I'll tell you later I promise but is there a place where I can lie low for a while?" Sarah asked "yeah, there is. But I have a question for you have you ever babysat before?" Emily asked, "Yeah, sometimes why?" Sarah replied, "Are you especially good with ages 8 to 14?" "Emily? Where are you going with this?" Sarah asked "because this is Ethen's house and his little sister Jane needs a babysitter for the night while their parents are out for the night. And since Erica can't do it, maybe you can fill in for her?" Emily said "sure; I can do that. Anything to keep me from staying out in the open." Sarah said "great; I'll introduce you to the family. Come on, let's get out of the bushes. Oh, by the way, I saw you slap Jesse across the face, and might I just say. You go girl!" Emily said giving Sarah a fist bump.


	4. Sarah’s Secret Revealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Erica ditched her babysitting job, Sarah decides to fill in for her. But after some strange events, Ethen and the others suspect that Sarah is hiding something from them. And whatever it is they plain to find out.

Sarah and Emily went to the front door, and Emily rang the doorbell. “Finally, that should be Emily with Erica.” I said “oh, honey I got it. Finally.” Mrs. Morgan said as she went to answer the door “hi, you must be Erica, the babysitter?” she asked “Sarah? What are you doing here? Are you lost? Do you need something?” I asked, “Hey, guys.” Emily said “Emily! There you are I was wondering where you were.” I said picking her up in my arms

“Hold on; you three know each other?” Mrs. Morgen asked “yeah, we do. This is Sarah, a friend of ours from school. She’s also Erica’s best friend.” I explained “Sarah, this is Samantha and Ross Morgan Ethen and Jane’s parents. So what are you doing here? And where’s Erica?” I asked “uh, she’s sick, so she sent me instead. Can I come in? Please?” Sarah asked frantically “of course, Jane your babysitter’s here.” Mrs. Morgan called out “hi, I’m Jane.” She said shaking Sarah’s hand “hi.” Sarah replied just then we heard Ethen coming down the stairs and he was not only shocked to see Sarah but instantly fell in love with her. “Uh, earth to Ethen?” Mrs. Morgan said “hello.” Ethen said shyly “do you like Dance Dance Revolution?” Jane asked “I’m a brutal dancer. I’m sure you’d kick my butt every time.” Sarah said “perfect! You’re up first.” Jane said pulling Sarah to the living room “oh, hold on a second honey you’re bleeding.” Mrs. Morgan said “oh, it’s nothing. I tripped on the way here. It doesn’t even hurt.” Sarah said “you know. I’ll go get some bandages.” Ethen said heading back upstairs

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Mrs. Morgan asked concerned “oh, yeah! Uh, shortcut through the woods.” Sarah said reassuring her and pulling a leaf from her hair. “Aha, okay. My cell number is on the fridge, and Jane has to be in bed no later than 8:30. Bye, sweetie.” Mrs. Morgan said, “Love you.” Jane said, “I love you back.” Mrs. Morgan said kissing Jane good night “good night sweetheart.” Mr. Morgan said kissing Jane goodnight “bye Ethen!” Mrs. Morgan called out “yeah, bye.” Ethen replied, “Have fun at the rodeo, or whatever.” Sarah said “thanks.” Mrs. Morgan said as they went out the door.

“Well, Sarah looks like you made quite the first impression on Ethen. He’s crushing on you already.” Mimi said, “You really think so?” Sarah asked, “Yeah, I really do.” She replied “so, Emily where were you? What took you so long?” Amy asked “yeah, you wouldn’t believe what just happened. But that’s not important right now. So, Dakota, I forgot to ask when we were on the phone but. How did things go with Rory?” “Dakota was hanging out with Rory earlier?” Sarah asked “yeah, she was hanging out with him all afternoon. She even got back late because they had so much fun together. Didn’t Erica tell you?” Emily asked, “If she did text me I probably didn’t see it I have been very busy lately.” Sarah said, “Anyway, am I in trouble for that?” I asked “normally; you would be. But since this is the first time you hanged out with a boy alone and Rory did bring you back safely. I think I’ll let it slide just this one time just don’t let it happen again ok.” Emily said, “Alright, I’ll try not to.” I said

“So, how did things go with Rory?” Emily asked, “Yeah, I didn’t want to say anything with Ethen and his parents around, but did you tell him that you have a crush on him?” Mabel asked excitedly “and more importantly did you tell him I have a crush on him too?” “Well, not exactly. I was thinking you would tell him that you like him Mabe’s. But, any way I didn’t tell him that I have a crush on him. It was only our first time hanging out together.” I said “besides I don’t want him thinking I was only hanging out with him because I have a crush on him. I want to get to know him as a friend to. But, I’ll tell him that I love him sooner than later preferably sooner. I know I’m too young for him and all that stuff, but I still think he has the right to know.” I explained

““So, now that you got to know him better. What do you think? Is he the boy of your dreams?” Emily asked teasing “well, now that you mention it. Yes, he is; he’s everything that I could ever want in a boy a total sweetheart Rory is just my type.” I said “wow! I didn’t think you had a type; you go, girl!” Mabel said “hey, guys take a look at what we found! An entire secret stash of Fudgsicles! You want one?” Jane asked, “You bet I do!” Mabel said “sure; I’ll have one. Thanks, Jane, thanks, Sarah.” I said just then we heard footsteps coming down the stairs “oh, that must be Ethen I was wondering what was taking him so long.” Amy said, “Found the bandages.” Ethen said, “And we found that secret stash of Fudgsicles!” Jane said running up to Ethen but ran into him and got Fudgsicle on his pants “ah! Jane! Ugh!” Ethen groaned

“Nice! I guess we’re even.” Sarah said chuckling a little “here.” Ethen said tossing her the bandages when we heard knocking at the door “oh, that must be Benny” I said “um I got it.” Ethen said “no, no, no!” Sarah said grabbing an umbrella “Sarah? What’s Wong?” I asked when Benny let himself in I got pop, chips, and the first season of The Bloodsucker Diaries. Who.” Benny paused putting fake vampire fangs into his mouth but was shocked to see Sarah here instead of Erica “where’s your bathroom?” Sarah asked “oh, um it’s down that hall there to the left.” Ethen said pointing

“Dude isn’t that your robo-babe from school?” Benny asked, “Yes I guess Erica couldn’t come, so she sent her instead.” Ethen explained, “So, she’s like a substitute babe?” Benny asked “dude.” Ethen said “sweet!” Benny said excitedly “no, no not sweet. Jeez, could you be less of a geek for once?” Ethen asked “oh, yeah this coming from a guy who looks like he pooped his pants from the front. Nice job by the way.” Benny said “its fudgsicle!” Ethen exclaimed, “Yeah, might want to clean that up.” I said getting a wet paper towel and wiping his pants clean “anyway, you guys have got to see what I found. I was right.” Emily said, “Right about what?” I asked “about our lockers remember earlier today I said our lockers have this eco sound in them. Well, I went to the principal’s office today, and I found blueprints from over 20 years ago. Turns out I was right! There is a wall that covers an opening were mine, Dakota, and Chloe’s lockers connect. Apparently, it was used as a storage room, but budget cuts at school caused the room to get closed off. I say we trick out our lockers, knock down that wall, and make it our own secret room. So, what do you guys say?” Emily asked with her hand out

“I say absolutely not!” Amy said, “Emily we could get ourselves in big trouble.” “Oh, please what’s the worst that could happen?” Emily asked “uh, we get expelled! What if someone sees us?” Amy exclaimed “don’t worry; I’ll make sure to have the lockers cover up the hole in the wall when I’m done. Plus, take a look at this; there are three vents that connect to the current ventilation system that’ll lead to easy access to the entire school.” Emily explained, “That does sound pretty awesome.” I said “Yeah, it does. Anyway, let’s order some ‘zza. I’m starving.” Benny said pulling out his phone and speed dialing the pizza place.

“Hey, it’s me give me the usual and supersize that puppy. I’m next door It’s, uh, exactly 7:19 you have 30 minutes or it’s free. Engage!” Benny said hanging up “Erica, please listen to me! You have to get away from those guys!” we heard Sarah say “Sarah’s been in there for a while now is she okay?” I asked walking to the bathroom door and Jane. “Just give her some privacy.” Ethen said “I think she’s crying what did you say to her?” Jane asked “I don’t think she’s crying. I think she’s on the phone with Erica.” Emily said “but I thought that Sarah said she was sick?” I asked “y-yeah she is.” Emily said uncertainly “just go watch some TV or something, ok. I’m sure she’ll be fine.” He said. Ethen Decided to check on Sarah but accidentally opened the door without knocking startling them both. “Looking for something? Or are you just an incredible perv?” Sarah asked causing Ethen to stutter “Nice job Ethen, you walked in on her!” Emily called out “not bad for a first impression am I right?” she said “ha, ha, ha. Awkward.” Mable giggled “shut it you two.” I hushed.

“Guys.” Ethen whispered “all right, dude. This new Galactica spin-off is on tonight and we should totally. Ok, what’s up?” Benny asked when he saw Ethen’s shocked expression “yeah, Ethen what’s up? Need a way to apologize to Sarah after walking in on her?” Emily said smugly “look; I just saw Sarah; she was she was in front of the mirror, but not in it!” Ethen said, “Okay, hold up, how much aftershave did you drink?” Benny asked not believing a word Ethen said “dude, I’m serious! Her reflection was all wonky.” Ethen said

“How wonky? Foggy mirror that hasn’t been cleaned in while wonky? Or, vampire mirror wonky?” Mabel asked, “uh, the second one.” Ethen said “vampire mirror wonky it is.” She said, “I never understood why vampires don’t show up in mirrors anyway.” I said “it’s because of the darkness in their souls prevents light from passing through. No light, no reflection. It’s also the reason why vampires don’t show up on cameras.” Mabel said, “now that I don’t get, we don’t even use cameras with mirrors in them anymore, it’s all digital now.” Emily said, “yeah, I never understood that either.” Mabel said “guys, focus, she’s not normal okay? She’s like a-“

“Hey, look. You guys don’t really need a sitter do you?” Sarah asked, “Depends on what you mean by need.” Benny said winking and smiling at her “no, no we’re fine. My mom just likes humiliating me to make a point.” Ethen said “okay, good I need to find my friend Erica. I think she’s in trouble.” Sarah said “uh, maybe I should go with you. You know for protection.” Ethen said but when Sarah dropped her phone, and Ethen gave it back to her touch caused him to have his first psychic vision. In his vision, he saw a tree and a graveyard but they were not in the same place.

“Trust me; you don’t want to go out tonight. Besides, save those muscles for protecting yourself.” Sarah teased “did you just see that?” Ethen asked still recovering from the shock “uh, later guys.” Sarah said leaving through the back door “wow, smooth you get a mad-hot babe here and you have to immediately go and weird her out. Well done I’m very impressed.” Benny said, “I’m telling you, I just saw something.” Ethen said “okay, seriously what happened to Erica?! She was just fine at school earlier; I doubt she got sick in the last few hours.” I said, “She ditched you guys.” Emily said casually “she what?!” I exclaimed, “That doesn’t sound like Erica.” Amy said “yeah apparently Jesse is having a party at his house. She’s hanging with that boy Gord.” Emily said

“Wait, isn’t he that brown Curly haired kid? Yeah, he is ca-ute.” Mimi said “yeah, he was also a part of that jerk-tourage that nearly ran us over!” Emily exclaimed “but that’s beside the point. You guys are not going to believe what I saw at the school. When I was watching Sarah and Erica talk it out from a tree Jesse and his friends just came out of nowhere, they floated down from the sky.” Emily explained “Emily, that’s imposable.” Amy said “no, I’m serious. When Erica and the others left Jesse and Sarah had a talk, Sarah was saying things like “you said I could chose, you said it was up to me.” And “I just need more time.” And Jesse was saying “some decisions need a little push.” Emily explained “he was probably trying to give it to her, if you catch my drift.” Mable said and Emily and the others did.

“How would you know about that?! You’re 12?!” Emily exclaimed “let’s just say me and my brother’s biology teacher gave us that talk two years too early. It disturbed yet intrigued me all at the same time. Plus we used to have a babysitter that loves watching romantic movies, and half of them weren’t rated PG13!” Mable exclaimed which rendered everyone speechless. “Uh, Mable I, I think you need to talk with your parents.” Amy said concerned “ha, haha. That’s exactly what Dipper said.” Mable said taking a sip of soda 

“Check it out; I recorded some video footage.” Emily said showing us the video footage on her camera “wow, for a girl her size Sarah can really fight.” Esamanda said, “yeah, especially since Jesse is a pretty tall guy.” Cindy said, “wait, Ethen didn’t you say you couldn’t see Sarah’s reflection very well?” Emily asked, “Yeah, I did.” He replied “well, she’s showing up just fine on my camera. Whoa, take a look at this. The light I thought it was broken.” Emily said showing us a light that was flashing orange. “So what about it?” I asked, “Look; when I first bought this camera at a thrift store, the clerk told me that this camera can pick up supernatural beings that normal cameras can’t.” Emily explained, “If you’re filming someone normal then the camera's light will turn green, but if it picks up anything supernatural then the light will turn orange.” She explained, “Wait, what if it picks up something normal and supernatural?” Cindy asked, “Then the light turns purple.” Emily said “but Jesse and Sarah are making the light turn orange. Okay, she’s not normal, and I’m going to find out what’s going on.” Ethen said

“Fine, undercover brother’s on a mission; I like it. But aren’t you forgetting something?” Benny asked as they were about to head out the door. “Yeah, what are you forgetting?” Jane asked, “Any chance you girls could stay and watch Jane?” Benny asked “no way guys, if we’re dealing with real-life vampires you guys are going to need backup. Besides Sarah’s been acting strange all night. If something is going on, she needs to know she can trust us. We’re not like other girls we can fight, and we have magic powers. We’re going with you.” I said, “So if you girls are coming with, who’s going to watch Jane?” Ethen asked, “I think I have an idea; give me a minute.” Benny said pulling out his phone

A few minutes later we heard a knock at the door. “Thanks, Grandma you’re a lifesaver.” Benny said opening the door for his grandmother Evelin Weir “any time dear.” Mrs. Weir said, “Hi Evelin, it’s good to see you again.” Emily said, “She smells funny.” Jane said no, she smells like flowers and mothballs.” Ethen said “all right; now if the pizza isn’t here in 26 minutes, you do not pay a dime.” Benny said, “Okay we, we will be right back.” Ethen said as he put his jacket on “I hate being eight.” Jane pouted “come on guys let’s go.” I said, and we head out the door.

“What is all that stuff?” Ethen asked Benny “Digicams with night vision infrared.” Benny said “rock and roll Benny.” Emily said, “You can’t possibly expect us to investigate the supernatural realm without the proper equipment!” Benny said “just keep it on the down-low okay? She already thinks I’m a perv.” Ethen said, “of course she does you walked in on her when she was using the bathroom!” Emily exclaimed “let it go, Ems, I said,

“You said her reflection wasn’t all there, right?” Benny asked “yeah.” Ethen replied, “here’s a thought: What if this is some publicity stunt for that stupid Dusk movie?” Benny said, “He does have a point.” Amy said, “If this is a punk, I know it all along!” Benny yelled causing dogs to bark “Benny! Shhh! Come on I think she was heading towards town.” Ethen said, “You know what if this is a sham?” Amy asked, “No way I know what I saw, besides how do you explain the camera footage?” Emily asked, “Emily someone could have easily tampered with the camera to make the light go off.” Amy said, “no one has ever used this camera but me!” Emily exclaimed, “guys, guys let’s not ague alright I’m sure once we find Sarah it’ll put this whole thing to rest, prank or no prank.” Chloe said it took us a while to get to town when we did we couldn’t find Sarah anywhere.

“It’s hopeless; we lost her. Must have pizza.” Benny said, “she’s out here, I I feel it.” Ethen said just then we heard a rustling sound coming from an alleyway “shh there’s something in the alley.” Ethen pointed out “are you guys thinking what I’m thinking?” Emily asked “drug dealers?” Amy replied “no, raccoons. Why would you think drug dealers? We’re in a pretty safe part of town.” Emily said, “I don’t know just thinking aloud.” Amy said, “Step aside ladies, night vision engaged.” Benny said using his camera what did Benny find you may have asked. Well, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is we found Sarah the bad news is she was about to eat a rat.

“What? Benny, what? Fine, I’m just going to go see for-“Ethen said, but Benny stopped him “we should leave, we should leave right now.” Benny said scared “why?” Ethen asked taking the camera from Benny but he saw what Sarah was about to do and they both screamed like little girls causing Sarah to notice and hiss at us

“I can’t believe it! A real vampire!” Mabel exclaimed, “great, now what do we do?!” I asked “simple; we do what they do in the movies.” She replied, “Well, what do they do in the movies?” I asked, “Run!” Mabel exclaimed taking off “can’t argue with that logic!” I said running after her “run for your lives!” Emily exclaimed as we all ran for our lives “we are so dead!” Ethen exclaimed, “Speak for yourself skinny guy coming through! Warp nine!” Benny exclaimed, “Ahh help my babysitter’s a vampire!” Ethen exclaimed as we ran “wait, there’s eleven of us. I don’t think she can catch all of us.” I said “Dakota she’s a vampire! She can catch all of us in one fatal swoop! It’s almost imposable to outrun a vampire!” Mabel said, “Oh, you don’t have to outrun the vampire, you just have outrun Benny.” Emily said, “Hey, I heard that!” Benny exclaimed “don’t worry I know how to take her out. Do any of you guys have garlic?” Mabel asked “no” Amy replied “holy water?” “No” “sunshine?” “Not on me!” Amy replied, “what about a wooden stake?” “Mabel now’s not the time to talk about barbecuing!” Emily said “not the meat kind Emily! Not the meat kind!” Amy exclaimed

“Remember Halo Level Three? The battle plan I sent you? Evasive maneuvers. Alpha Phi strike delta six. Engage!” Benny said but wasn’t watching where he was going a fell into a big plant pot and rolled back first on to the street. “You missed the pattern.” Benny said catching his breath “sometimes I just skim your emails.” Ethen said catching his breath “fair enough.” Benny replied “thanks,” Ethen said, “what’s your problem?” Sarah asked startling all of us “how did she? Just hold on! If you eat us that would so not be cool.” Ethen said, “If I wanted to eat you, I would have down it by now.” Sarah said, “See she wants to eat us were doomed!” Benny exclaimed, “No, no, no I just want to talk to you guys.” She said, “Demon of the night, be gone!” Ethen said making a cross with two tree branch’s “guys, whatever you saw it’s not what it looks like.” Sarah said, “You’re a freaking vampire who eats animals and drinks there blood!” Ethen said “okay so it’s kind of what it looks like but-“I’m warning you, I had garlic bread for lunch, and I am not afraid to use my breath.” Benny interrupted “would you both just shut up?” Sarah Exclaimed

“I’m with her; I say we hear her out.” I said, “are you serious?!” Ethen and Benny exclaimed “look; if she were going to give harm to us, she would have down it already. Besides this is why we’re here in the first place she needs to know she can trust us. Alright, we’re listening.” I said “thank you! Look I’m just a normal girl, okay? At least I was until I got bit by my crummy ex-boyfriend.” Sarah said, “ha, welcome to the club sister, been there.” Emily said patting her arm “you had a boyfriend who was a vampire too?” Sarah asked excitedly “heck no; I just had a crummy boyfriend asked anyone.” Emily said, “It’s true she did.” My friends and I said, “also I’m technically still a fledgling until I drink human blood, which I really don’t want to do, so I have to figure out how to stop this thing before my mortal body dies, or at least stop it from happening to more people like Erica.” Sarah explained, “Hold on; I’m no vampire expert, but what’s a fledgling?” I asked “fledglings are half human half-vampires, it’s basically the beginning stages of the transformation. When you’re a fledgling you have all the same powers a vampire would have including: super speed, super strength, heightened senses and sharp refaxes. When you become a full-fledged vampire you basically still have the same powers but there stronger with the added abilities of flight and hypnosis.” Mabel explained, “Sounds awesome.” I said

“It is, also a fledgling has a total of 28 days to drink human blood, or there mortal body dies.” Mabel explained “wait so you’re telling me if Sarah doesn’t drink human blood she could-?! “ “Yep she’s a goner.” Mabel said, “Well that’s awful, what’s the cure?” I asked “there is none, well if there is we haven’t found yet. Normally in all the vampire movies, its ether stab the vampire in the heart with a wooden stake, wait for the sun to come up and watch it turn to ashes, or lock it in the coffin in which it came from and hopes it never sees the light of day again. Or the light of night because daylight is one of their mortal weaknesses.” Mabel said you know I should send this to the studios Hollywood should get on this.” She said

“Well, that’s just perfect! Not only do we have a best friend who’s a vampire, but we can’t even help her!” I exclaimed, “So you’re sure this isn’t some stupid thing for that Dusk movie?” Benny asked “I wish, come on let’s get out of here. I’m not the only one feeding tonight I’ll take you guys home and if I’m lucky I’ll find Erica before it’s too late.” Sarah said “see I told you there was something off about Jesse. But I didn’t think there was something this off about him.” Emily said, “Yeah Emily you right about him, look we should get out of here fast before we get some unwanted attention from some less friendly vampires.” Chloe said, “yeah, we should Jane’s probably wondering where are.” I said

When we got back to Ethen’s house, Jane was indeed waiting for us “about time! I’m so bored, Grandma passed out five songs ago, and she has, like, zero boom-boom-pow. Can we pleeease play now?” Jane asked “sorry I’ve, gotta go.” Sarah said “just be careful okay? And don’t tell anyone about you know.” She said, “Uh, sure I’m cool, and nobody believes anything Benny says anyway.” Ethen said, “Don’t worry Sarah your secrets safe with us.” Esamanda said “I’m serious, okay? And whatever you do, do not invite a vampire into your house. It’s your only safe haven.” Sarah said, “Got it thanks.” Ethen said “are you sure you don’t want our help? We’re really good at fighting bad guys, and maybe we could help you save Erica.” I said “no, I don’t want you girls getting hurt or worse. Just stay here okay? I’ll let you know if I need help, okay?” Sarah asked, “Okay, see you tomorrow Sarah.” I said, “See you guys tomorrow.” Sarah said leaving through the back door

Just then the doorbell rang “oh, man pizza dude is so late bonus!” Benny said heading to open the door “come on in, bro! Oh, man this is going to taste so much better ‘cause it’s free! Sorry, dude, but I am just dying for a bite.” Benny said, “yeah, me too.” The pizza man said who was actually a vampire “ahh.”We all shrieked so loud that Sarah heard us “oh, yeah whatever you do, do not invite a vampire into your house, and what do you do 15 seconds later? You invite a vampire into the house! Way to go doofus!” Emily scolded slapping Benny up the side of the head. “Ow! Hey, watch the hair.” Benny said “Ethen!” Jane wined “Jane it’s, its okay he’s just playing a game.” Ethen reassured her “yeah, a game whoever tells me where Sarah is first spends less time screaming.” The vampire said

“Can I play too?” Sarah said joining in “yes!” We all exclaimed “yes, please” Ethen said, “Jesse got tired of waiting, so he sent me to pick you up.” He said, “So I guess you really are just the delivery boy after all.” Sarah said, “heh-heh, at least I know what side I’m on fledgling.” The vampire said, “Oh, no he didn’t!” Mabel exclaimed, “Okay, um can I just grab a slice before you do your whole-vampire trash talk thing?” “Benny!” Ethen said “what? If I’m going to have a last meal, I want it to be the Italiano Deluxe.” Benny said, “Right heh-heh.” Ethen chuckled “Italiano Deluxe.” The vampire said, “With extra garlic.” Ethen said ahhh!” Benny exclaimed as they ran into the vampire with the pizza burning him “gotcha! Go go, go! Ha! Ha! Ha!” Benny laughed as they all ran upstairs “what are you doing?” Sarah asked me “helping you, Esamanda, Lizzy I need back up!” I called “we’re on it!” Esamamda said as she and Lizzy slid down the stair rail. As we were helping Sarah take down the vampire, Ethen and the others went to his room to hide

“Come on! You’re good!” Ethen said pulling everyone into his room “I don’t think she’s winning.” Ethen said trying to catch his breath “of course she’s not winning, she’s not even a full vampire yet!” Benny exclaimed, “She’s a vampire?” Jane asked “uh.” Ethen said, trying to think of an answer. “Of course not, vampires don’t exist.” Mabel said “Benny this is all your fault! We wouldn’t even be in this mess if you didn’t let that guy in!” Emily scolded “yeah, who even invites the pizza delivery guy into their house anyway?” Mimi asked, “I do.” Benny replied “ugh!” Mimi exclaimed, “Why is the pizza guy acting all crazy?” Jane asked

“Uh, he’s just upset about not getting paid; it’ll be fine.” Ethen said, “I’m calling Mom and Dad.” Jane said holding up the phone “no, no, no don’t you just have to trust me on this one Ethen pleaded “you make my bed for a whole week.” Jane said, “It’s a deal; thank you.” Ethen said “somebody’s coming, quick! Come on! Get the bed!” Ethen said as him, and Benny moved the bed as a barricade “let us in hurry!” Sarah said “oh! Okie-Dokie.” Benny said as they moved the bed back to let us in “what happed? Where is he?” Ethen asked, “Let’s just say I introduced him to some of your mom’s good silverware.” Sarah said

“You know, I find this kind of ironic, we have been to multiple alternate universes and not once have we ever dealt vampires before.” Cindy pointed out “huh, you’re right. That is kind of ironic.” I agreed, “What do you have for weapons?” Sarah asked, “okay, hold the door; I got this." I said "Jane help me find a hat that can take this vampire down.” I said opening my backpack on the bad where Jane was sitting. “Whoa are these hats based on Kirby games?” Jane asked

“Jane, these hats actually work, there magic. Let’s see here: fire hat no that will burn the house down. Ice hat no that will create water damage when the ice melts. Spark hat no that will cause a blackout. Oh, Pikachu hat.” “Oh, use it” Mabel insisted “oh no, that will cause a blackout for the entire neighborhood!” I said, “Don’t you have more hats?” Sarah asked “sorry, I do have more but there back at our house. I would go and get them, but by the time I get back you guys could be goners.” I said, “Okay any other Ideas?” Sarah asked

“Uh, I don’t know,” Ethen said as everyone went to look for something to use as weapons “uh, hah! Ha! Ha! Ha! How about this?” Ethen said handing Sarah a trophy “A debating trophy?!” she exclaimed, “It’s the pointiest.” Ethen said “ugh” she sighed “hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! We could make a wooden stake out of this.” Benny said holding up a hockey stick “no, no, no, no, no that is autographed.” Ethen said “by who? Ryan Seacrest?! Really?” Benny asked, “Don’t you guys have anything else we could use?” Lizzy asked “these are perfect! Sharp and wooden.” Ethen said holding up pencils “great! If we were fighting vampire squirrels! Guys, he’s coming! Hurry! Sarah said 

“Don’t you guys have anything that can be used on vampires? Actual wooden steaks? Holy water? Anything?!” Mabel asked, “Well, Mabel in case you haven’t noticed, this is our first time dealing with real life vampires we’re a little underprepared.” Emily said, “Well, next time get over prepared!” Mabel exclaimed, “Did anybody ever tell you, you are a really bad babysitter?” Ethen asked, “Hey, I’m new at this.” Sarah said, “Hey, Ethen your parents are calling.” Cindy said, “Oh thanks.” Ethen said grabbing it from her “don’t answer it!” Sarah said, “oh, Sarah.” The vampire said

“Hello” “hi Ethen? Yeah, yeah. Hi, honey its Mom.” Mrs. Morgan said on the phone “uh ha, ha, hi, ma.” Ethen said trying to sound as casual as possible “yeah, hi sweetie can you put the sitter on please?” Mrs. Morgan asked, “She can’t really talk right now.” Ethen said “Ethen, now is not a good time to argue with me. Can you just put her on?” Mrs. Morgan asked “okay.” Ethen said giving Sarah the phone “hello?” “Hi, Sarah it’s me. Look we’re going to be a little late tonight. I side kicked Ethen’s Dad in the head, and uh, what is that noise?” she asked “oh, uh there playing a video game. Hey, keep it down, you guys.” Sarah said, “Let me in.” The vampire said “not a chance! This rainbow wand is locked and loaded!” I said with my rainbow wand in hand “okay, I know that we said we’d home by 10 o’clock, but could you stay for an extra hour or two?” Mrs. Morgan asked, “Okay, sure, that’s fine. See you then.” Sarah said hanging up.

Just then the vampire broke though Ethen’s bedroom door “ahhh!” we all screamed as he looked at us “ahh, a debating trophy?” The vampire said when Ethen stabbed him with it “quick, out the window!” Amy said, “Flutter your wings, ladies!” Emily said we all ran outside hoping to get away, but the vampire quickly caught up to us. We would have most likely been goners if it wasn’t for Sarah coming down with a tree branch and taking the vampire out. “Okay, she may be a lousy babysitter, but that was the bomb!” Benny exclaimed when we got back inside a real mess greeted us “good luck cleaning this mess up before your folks get home.” Sarah said “what this? This is nothing.” Ethen said, “Don’t worry we’ll help clean this mess up before we leave.” I said

“It’s amazing she can sleep now.” Sarah said pointing to Jane who was asleep on the couch “yeah, Grandma’s got the magic touch. When I was six and scared of robots she-““Fascinating! Look, if I can get to Jesse’s before midnight, I can still save Erica.” Sarah said “so, that pizza guy he’s dead, right?” Ethen asked “not dead, no. Just in some kind of limbo for souls, but he won’t be back here.” She said, “Found a survivor.” Benny said holding a pizza slice “okay just stay inside where you’re safe okay?” Sarah asked as she was about to leave “let us know if you find her.” I said, “Say hi to Erica for me.” Benny said as Sarah left “well, this night has been a disaster.” Emily said “are you kidding this has been the best night of my life; I told you vampires were real. But I see what you mean I don’t see how the night could get any worse.” Mabel said

All of a sudden Benny’s phone rang “hold my pizza.” Benny said pulling out his phone it was Rory “should I even bother picking up?” Benny asked, “why not.” Ethen said, “Yeah, we might want to talk to him.” Mabel said “Benny wazzup?!” Rory said over the phone “what up.” Benny replied “wazzup?” Rory said, “You guys are lame; that’s what’s up.” Ethen said, “Hi Rory what’s up bud?” I asked “yeah, Rory? What up?” Mabel said trying to impersonate him “It’s even cute when you say it.” I said, “I know right!” Mabel said giggling with me “if I’m so lame, then how am I chillaxing at the most slamming party in town?” Rory asked, “Did we miss another Mathletes event?” Ethen asked “no dude, a real party! At this huge mansion! And almost all the kids here are seniors, including the girls. Hey, beautiful like what you see?” Rory said to a girl passing by “oh Rory, I love what I see in you.” I gushed quietly even though I know he wasn’t talking about me. “Guy’s this party is off the hook!” “How’d you get in?” Benny asked “these guys saw me at Gamer Town and asked me if I wanted to come. Oh and Benny you’re Dusker babe is here and she is looking fine!” Rory said taking a photo “check out the hot senior babe she’s dancing with!” He said

We looked at the photo Rory sent us and Erica was in it but the problem was she the only one in it. That was when we realized Rory was not just at a party; he was at Jesse’s vampire party. (Dun dun dun!) “Uh, Rory? These seniors there not from the drama club are they?” Ethen asked, “Yeah, some of them, oh and get this: there’s going to be a buffet at midnight!” Rory said “Rory, you need to listen, okay we, we need you-““sorry, I got to go conga line! Yeah!” Rory said as he hanged up “I stand corrected, things just got worse!” Mabel exclaimed


	5. The Rescue Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After fighting a vampire pizza delivery guy, things couldn't get worse then that. But they did, now Rory is in danger of being a vampire's dinner. How will his friends get him out of this one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to let you guys know, that this was my favorite chapter to write. I just loved writing the beginning of this one.

My heart sank to the bottom of my chest, and I felt sick to my stomach. The entire room went black. “And there’s going to be a buffet at midnight.” Rory’s words echoed in my mind. The fact that the boy of my dreams, and the love of my life, (at the time.) Was completely unaware of the dangers he was in filled me with a sense of dread and unease. Thoughts of what those vampires would to that poor boy made me feel even worse to the point that my vision blurred and the next thing I know, I was falling backward.“Ahh! She fainted!” Emily exclaimed, “Quick, get her something to drink.” Ethen ordered Benny’s grandmother came in with a juice box and gave it to Ethen, he then held me upright and force feed me the apple juice.

I awoke shortly after. “Uh, uh, what happened?” I asked weakly, “You fainted from shock, are you ok?” Emily said, “Yeah, I’m fine; it’s just that. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Not Rory, anyone but my Rory! Guys, we have to do something.” I said still weak from fainting “yeah, we do Erica’s there too, and who knows what could happen to her.” Emily said, “You guys take care of Dakota for a moment while I have a word with Benny.”

Ethen said taking Benny out of earshot “sure, what’s up man, oh don’t say it don’t, ‘cause if you say it, we’ll have to find that doofus, and I for one do not want to crash a vampire dinner party.” Benny said “just come on, Rory’s our friend. And if you won’t do it for me, do it for Dakota and Mabel they really like him.” Ethen said, “Yeah, that boy has been the love of our lives for a week now!” Mabel said “four days, Mabel we’ve been in love with Rory for four days. We met him last week I said “plus, Erica’s there, which means Sarah is making her way there too. This is a sign that we should be helping her.” Amy said, “Yeah, ‘cause the last time Sarah had to face off against Jesse, it resulted in her crash landing here with me.” Emily said, “So that’s what thump was.” I said, “Agh! Fine, I’ll go. But I’m not walking.” Benny said, “Well, we do have actual Mario Karts want to ride?” Emily suggested, “I think the karts are only big enough for one person Emily.” Chloe said, “What about the warp stars?” Cindy asked, “No, that could lead to some unwanted attention, plus we don’t want to bring to much attention to ourselves.” Amy said

“If, you kids need a ride to rescue your friends take my car.” Mrs. Weir said, handing us her car keys, “wow, really Grandma?” Benny asked, “Cool thanks.” Esmanda said, “Anytime, kids now you better hurry if you want to make it in time.” Mrs. Weir said, “Thanks, Mrs. Weir. Do you think you could watch Jane for a little longer?” I asked, “I’ll not only do that, but I’ll clean up the mess before Ethen’s folks get home.” Mrs. Weir said, “Wow really, thanks Evelin. We owe you one.” Emily said, “Oh, it’s no big deal. Oh, but girls?” “Yes.” We said, “You don’t have to call me Mrs. Weir; it makes me feel old if you’d like you can call me Benny’s Grandma or Evelin.” She said “yeah, uh I I think I’ll stick to Evelin. Thank you so much for your help.” I said, “Any time dears, any time.” Mrs. Weir said, “come on girls, we got some friends to save.” Emily said.

We went out of the door and found Mrs. Weir's car parked outside near Benny’s house “got the keys, gotta switch her to neutral, ‘cause it’ll keep us on the down low.” Benny said, “Quick question, do two even know how to drive?” Emily asked, “we do we just don’t have our learners permit yet.” Ethen said “great, so you’re telling me that the fate of your best friend’s life rests in your hands but ours as well!?!” Emily asked, “Sorry, my parents won’t let me get my license until I’m at least 15.” Ethen said, “Ethen, the state won’t let get your license until your 16!” Emily exclaimed, “yeah, and I don’t test well.” Benny added, “you have to show up to not test well."

Ethen replied, “I say we go for it; they seem responsible enough.” I said, “ugh, fine, but if I’m going down, I’m taking one of you down with me!” Emily threatened, “Hey, what the heck is that?” Ethen asked looking at a box of long light bulbs “oh, replacement bulbs for Grandma’s tanning bed. She likes rocking a tan. I’ve seen her come out of there once it’s not pretty. Come on.” Benny said “one sec I’ve got an idea. Remember last year when we dressed up as Jedis?” Ethen asked, “I’ll get my dad’s tool kit.” Benny said

“Great, while you work on your tanning bed lightsabers we’re going home.” Emily said, “Wait, you’re backing out on us?” Ethen asked “of course not, if we’re going to be fighting real vampires we’re going to need to get better prepared. It’s one thing to be fighting one vampire but an entire house full! We’re going to need more hats.” Emily said, “fair enough.” Ethen said, “Good, will meet you guys back here in 10 minutes, text us when you’re ready.” Amy said we went back to our house to grab better copy ability hats and anything else we might need. The hats were located in my bedroom.

“What sort of hats would be best against vampires?” I asked, “sharp ones, fire one, does Kirby have a holy water ability?” Mabel asked, “He has a water ability. Do you think that could work?” I replied, “Hmm if it’s regular water, I don’t think it would work unless there’s some sort of exception.” Mabel said, “Don’t you girls carry holy water with you. I mean, you’re angels.” She said, “Sorry Mable, but angels haven’t need to carry holy water with them since the 18th century.” Amy said, “Ok, so what hats are we bringing?” Chloe asked, “Well let me see; we have the sword ability, the fire ability, the spear ability, and the Pikachu hat. Do you think that will be enough?” I asked, “Yeah, I hope so, hey, do think this is sharp enough?” Emily asked, holding up a wooding steak Mable took the steak and a piece of her hair to test it “hmm, could be sharper, but it will have to do for now.” Mabel said, “I hope this Pikachu hat doesn’t cause a blackout. How well do vampire see in the dark?” I asked, “very well, unless you have night vision you’re practically undead meat.” Mabel said, “Noted.” I said, “come on guys I just got a text from Benny, they're ready to go.” Amy said, “Right we got no time to lose Erica and Rory need us.” I said, and we left our house reunited with Ethen and Benny. And off we went

We drove into town not only looking for someone who knows a way to Jesse’s house, but Sarah as well finely we found he walking down the street “excuse me miss, but, uh can you tell us where the vampire party’s at?” Ethen asked, “ok, I’m acting crazy because I got bit what’s your excuse?” Sarah asked, “hey, Sarah.” I said poking my head out the window “Dakota? Girls? What are you doing here?” Sarah asked, “We got a problem.” I said, “And how big of a problem is this problem you might be asking. Well, I’m glad you asked.” Mable said, “Rory’s at Jesse’s party.’ I said, “Rory’s there too?! Ok, let me drive. I have my learners permit.” Sarah said, “Wait you do? Great someone who can get us to and from that party alive!” Emily exclaimed happily, “so how did you find out about Rory being there?” Sarah asked, “He called us no more than 15 minutes ago.” I said, “Yeah, and Erica’s there, too, though I’m sure you already know that by now.” Esamanda said yeah, there’s also a buffet at midnight, though I’m sure you already know that too. I know I said Rory would be hot as a vampire but not as a vampires dinner!” Mabel exclaimed, “actually, dinner was hours ago technically he’d be a midnight snack.” Emily said, “don’t worry, we’ll save them, I promise. Hopefully, before it’s not too late.” Sarah said as she drove when we got to Jesse’s house. Sarah was the first one to get out. “Okay, just stay in the car got it?” she asked, “no way! You-“stay! I’ll be back as soon as I can with Erica, and your friend, okay?” Sarah asked again, “come on! We can-“Ethen protested again but Sarah hissed at us, and Ethen figured now was not the time to argue “got it.” He said, “I actually wanted to stay in the car, so that works for me.” Benny said

“Can I at least come?” I asked, “Dakota, please don’t argue with me.” Sarah said, “No, please I need to tell Rory I have a crush on him,” I said, “wait you’re going to choose now to confess you’re feelings to him?” Emily asked, “Look if Rory is going down. I at least want him going down knowing someone loves him.” I said, “no, I can’t let you girls come even if you are good fighters, I don’t want you getting bit or worse. Just stay here with Ethen and Benny okay?” Sarah asked, “Okay fine, but if you’re not back in 20 minutes were going after you deal?” I asked, “Okay, deal.” Sarah said, shaking my hand, and she left, “Come on! We can’t let her do this alone.” Ethen said, grabbing Benny’s shirt, “hey, hey watch the shirt.” Benny said, and we all got out of the car “okay guys here’s the plan: we go in, we find Rory and Erica, we get out before anyone notices, and we pretend this whole thing never happened. Until Monday, when we will be answering a lot of questions.” Emily explained.

“Emily, you know it’s never that simple,” I said, “ha, ha, yeah. It’s one of those easy on paper, but difficult to execute plans.” Emily agreed, “Well, we better find them fast; we have an hour until midnight.” Amy said, “She’s right; we better find them before Rory and Erica find out there on the menu tonight.” I said, “Hey, do you think they might consider letting them go. I mean Rory’s most likely a goner but Erica’s with Gord assuming he’s a vampire too. But would he really consider hurting her?” Emily asked the “worst case scenario. Erica gets bit and becomes a fledgling. But that’s what we’re trying to prevent.” I said, “But Erica loves vampires, don’t you think she would be over the moon if she became one? I mean, not everyone would take it the same way Sarah did, being a vampire is like every girl's dream.” Mabel said “even if Erica does take to it well, we don’t want her getting caught up in this mess, whatever Jesse’s planning I don’t her want to be a part of it. She can still help us and everything, and maybe she could find a cure for Sarah. But for now, let’s just ease her into this, Rory to we don’t want to freak them out.” I explained, “Assuming they will believe us.” Ethen said

As we were finding a way to get inside without being noticed, Sarah was already inside looking for Rory and Erica, but mostly Erica “well! Look who finally decided to show up. I guess Wes talked some sense into you, huh?” Gord asked, “oh yeah, we had a real heart to heart. Actually, uh I need to talk to Erica alone.” Sarah said, “So, now you have time for me?” Erica asked, “No, no, it’s cool. Be my guest; I’ll go find Jesse. He’ll uh, really want to know you’re here.” Gord said, and he walked off to find Jesse “come on! You’re not safe here. We have to get out of here now!” Sarah exclaimed, “You sound like my mother. Don’t worry, party pooper! It’s not like I’m going to give into peer pressure. Besides nobody here’s even drinking.” Erica said, “Not yet.” Sarah said while Sarah was trying to convince Erica to leave, we managed to sneak into Jesse’s back yard via climbing a gate.

“All right gang, operation “Save the Blond Haired Doofus.” Is a go.” Emily said, “Emily that is not the code we discoursed.” I said, “this is not a good idea; this is not a good idea; this the complete opposite of a good idea; this is a horrible idea!” Amy exclaimed, “Amy, shush! Do you want us to get caught?” Emily hushed, “yeah, that’s the last thing we need.” I said, “hey, girls? Any advice before we go out in the open to find Rory?” Benny asked, “Uh, don’t get bit?” Emily said, “That’s the best advice I’ve heard all night.” Ethen said sarcastically, “hey, can angels even become vampires?” I asked “well, considering we're already cursed to look like Heartless, falling under the vampire's curse is not out of the question. It’ll basically be like a sub curse to the main curse.” Emily explained, “Also, you do not want to drink angelic blood.” She said, “Why, what happens?” I asked “well, you guys have heard of Sunny-D, right? That orange juice drink that’s: 50% sugar, and 20% orange juice.” Emily asked, “yeah, we know it,” We all said “well, imagine that but replace the juice with actual sunlight, the taste of holy water, and a bunch of biblical references. And that’s basically what angel’s blood tastes like. Or at least that’s what I’ve heard, yeah if those vampires drink our blood, they will die, or get horrible indigestion. Whatever comes first?” Emily said, “Ok, I believe you.” I said

“Yeah, we’re fine, but if the vampires get you. Well, you’re dead meat.” Emily said, “Technically, you’d be undead meat. What even if we become vampires, we’re not dead, we’re undead there’s a difference!” Mabel said, “She’s got ya there.” I said, “dancing vampire babes, 12o’clook.” Benny said, “Are you sure there even vampires?” I asked, “Yep; they are, cameras going off like crazy. If there are any humans around, it’s not picking them up. And I’m definitely not picking up Rory.” Emily said, “Yeah, we’re supposed to be looking for Rory, remember?” Ethen asked, “No, we’re supposed to be waiting in the car. But if I’m going to die, I’m going to die rich, with some “Vampires Gone Wild” footage.” Benny said “you’re going to get us caught! Give me that camera.” Ethen said arguing with Benny over the camera, but they fell out into the open and were spotted by a group of vampires. But the others and I were able to stay hidden.

“Uh, um, uh He was let out for the can, had, uh you know, to use a tree. So glad I’m a dude vampire, right.” Benny said, “What are you doing?” Ethen asked, “Playing the game, play along.” Benny said, “yeah, yeah, phew! I had to go so bad I was going to die, again!” Ethen said, “Again.” Benny said causing Emily to facepalm and me to start laughing. “You went to pee together?” One of the vampires asked, “Dude.” He said disgusted and left us alone, “smooth boys, just smooth. Next time let us do the taking, it’ll spare us the embarrassment.” Emily said, coming out of her hiding spot, “agreed.” They said, “Okay guys, let’s find Rory.” Ethen said, “Oh no if you’re in this group, you do this our way. Now here’s the real plan: we all go in groups of three, Esamanda and Lizzy: you two fly around the house and see if you can spot Rory in the windows. Cindy, Mimi, and Chloe: you three look for Rory by the pool. And if you can’t find him here, then check inside. Emily stay here with Ethen and Benny, and make sure they don’t get into any more trouble.” I explained, “I’m on it.” Emily said, “Good, Amy, Mabel, you two are with me we’re going inside. We have 30 minutes until midnight.

“With any luck, we’ll be out of there by then.” I said, “Hold on before you go. Get some footage for my vlog. I was able to make a special filter to make the vampires visible on our camera phones.” Cool, nice job, Emily. Okay, let’s go.” I said we all scattered to find Rory, Sarah, and Erica, but let’s just say Benny never misses out on a chance to be noticed. “Being undead is the bomb! Creatures of the night, what’s up?!” Benny said, “Okay, don’t overdo it now. Let’s just find Rory and Sarah, and let’s get out of here.” Ethen said, “oh, hey, you look fang-tastic, my dear.” Benny said to a girl, “come on,” Ethen said, “I choose the wrong night to hang out with geeks.” Emily said following behind begrudgingly. Meanwhile, Amy, Mabel, and myself was inside looking for our friends, when we spotted Sarah trying to convince Erica to get the heck out of here “look, I know it sounds crazy, but a couple of weeks ago, I got bit by a vampire, and now I’m a fledgling!” Sarah explained, “Wow, you really expect me to believe that?” Erica asked, “I swear, and if we don’t get out now, we’ll never get out. Like ever.” Sarah said, “Okay, you sound like something from Dusk.” Erica said, “Sarah! Erica!” I called out running into Erica’s arms “Dakota? Amy? Mabel? What are you girls doing here?” Erica asked, “Looking for you look have you seen Rory?” I asked, “Wait, Rory’s here too?”

Erica asked, “Yes, he is, and I really have to tell him something. Look you have to get out of here, you’re not safe. I know you’re mad at Sarah, but you need to let that go, we have to get out of here.” I said, “Wow, first Sarah tells me she’s a vampire now you’re telling me I’m in danger. Wow, what a night this has been.” Erica said, “Tell me about it an hour ago we were attacked by a vampire pizza delivery guy. Probably not the best time to get into that.” Mabel said, “So anyway, Dakota did you at least have fun with Rory. I want to know the details.” Erica asked excitedly, “yeah, I did Rory is the best, such a sweetie, I’ll tell you everything later.” I said, “Fine; if you won’t believe me, I’ll prove it to you.” Sarah said when all of a sudden, “Ah there she is, I know my girl would come around Hm?” Jesse said, showing up “oh, hey girls I didn’t know you were here. What are you doing up at this hour at night?” he asked, “oh, uh, we’re here looking for a friend.” I said, “A good friend.” Mabel added, “I know I’m going to regret asking this later but. Have you seen a blond haired boy with glasses on running around?” I asked, “Sorry, haven’t seen anyone matching that description.” Jesse said, “Well, if you do his name is Rory, and if you find him send him our way.” I said, “Will do.” Jesse said

“Guys, I looked everywhere; he’s not here; he must be outside.” Amy said, “great, come on, guys, let’s go.” I said, taking Mabel by the hand as we ran back outside “nice to see you’re here, Sarah.” Jesse said, “Actually, we were just leaving.” Sarah said, taking Erica by the arm, but she pulled away. “Oh, no, no, no, no, you’ll miss the main event. This isn’t just another party; stick around.” Jesse said meanwhile outside with Ethen, Benny, and Emily “this, has got to be the craziest night of my life. And I’ve been through a lot of crazy nights.” Emily said, “yeah, but you have to admit it’s kind of cool here.” Benny said, “Wait, what?” Ethen said, “It’s just that, I don’t know. I know they’re vampires and stuff, dude, but we’re finally at a senior’s party!” Benny said, “You want to dance, don’t you?” Ethen asked, “Just one I swear, you know you want to.” Benny said, “You know this party is kind of cool.” Cindy said, “You bet it is, even for vampires, seniors know how to party.” Emily said, “Well then, why should we miss out on all the fun?” Esamanda said, “Because we need to find Rory and Erica before mid-. “Just let me have my moment, Lizzy.” She said, “come on, guys, let’s dance.” Chloe said

When Amy, Mable and I got outside, we were surprised to see everyone dancing “seriously, we’re supposed to be finding Rory not dancing the night away.” Amy said, “Come on; it’s not like we’re in danger yet. Come on; let’s dance.” Mabel said, “Mabel, we have 25 minutes until midnight we don’t have time. Even though I do love this song, okay, you win. Let’s dance.” Amy said, “Dance, battle!” Mable yelled, we danced with everyone a little bit longer then we should have. Hey don’t look at me like that, we got lost in the music, but hey we had fun. When we finished, we went back to looking for Rory. But this time we didn’t split up.

“Okay, Rory, where would Rory be?” Ethen asked, “What’s up?” Rory said, walking up to us, “how about right behind you!” Mable said happily, “Rory.” Ethen and Benny said, “Rory, you’re alive!” I exclaimed hugging him, “so this girl; she was so into me. Gave me a wicked hickey. I guess she could smell my qualifications.” Rory said, showing us a red mark on his neck, “I have no idea what that is, but I don’t think I want to know.” I said, “Trust me, you don’t. Mabel, you might want to look at that.” Emily said, “I’m on it, Rory do you mind. Mmm, hmm, just what I thought attempted vampire bite.” Mabel said, “Is he going to be okay?” I asked, “yeah, he’s fine the bite not deep enough to turn him into a fledgling he’s fine for now.” Mabel said, “Whoa, so you’re telling me I almost got bit by a Dusk fan? Sweet.” Rory said, “Yeah, let’s go with that.” We said

“Look, Rory, we gotta go.” Ethen said, “Yeah, we better leave before I end up on some vampires dinner plate, with a suckling apple stuck in my mouth!” I said, “What? No way, we have to stay, this party’s bank!” Rory said, “Dude, we got him; let’s get out of here while we still can.” Benny said, “No, we can’t go without Sarah.” Ethen said, “Okay, do the words “stay in the car” ring a bell? They do with me, a loud one.” Benny said, “Look there she is!” Ethen said, pointing to Sarah, Erica, and Jesse. “Yeah, with McScary. You know, they look busy doing stuff that doesn’t really concern us non-undead types. Do you know what I’m saying? So let’s.” Benny said gesturing for us to leave, “I want to know what they're up to.” Ethen said, “I have an idea, how about you guys see what they're up to while. I stay here and dance with Rory.” I said, hugging his arm, “I’m staying too.” Mabel said, coming to Rory’s side, “I love these girls.” Rory said, hugging us both, “oh, no, you don’t, you’re coming with us.” Emily said, “Okay fine; it’s just that. Rory, I have to tell you something.” I said, “seriously, now you’re going to confess to him?!” Emily exclaimed, “Emily, just give me a minute, okay?”

I asked, “Okay, fine. You have five minutes.” Emily said, “thank you.” I said, “So, what’s up, Dakota?” Rory asked, “Look the thing is, I really like you.” I said, “I really like you to, you’re an amazing friend, but I already know that.” Rory said, “No, that’s not what I mean, I really really like you.” I said, “I’m sorry I’m not following.” He said, “How do I say this in a way you’ll understand. Okay, let me think.” I said, taking a few deep breaths, and I finally got the courage to tell Rory how I really felt about him, “the truth is, I’m crushing on you.” I said, at last.” “Wait, you have a crush on me?” Rory asked “yeah, I do ever since the day I met you I already thought you were cool, but when you saved me in Chemistry class I’ve been smitten ever since. I just can’t get you out of my mind, I know I’m too young for you being ten and all, but I hope that doesn’t affect our friendship?” I said as Rory pulled me into a hug “I know you’re too young to for me but, that doesn’t stop the affection you have for me you can have a crush on someone and still be there best friend. I’m happy you told me, though.” Rory said, “Yeah, I am too, it was hard, but I’m happy I finally got the words out.” I said, “While we’re confessing here I just wanted to say. I have a crush on to!

I just think you’re so cute and amazing and just come here, adorkable!” Mabel exclaimed joining in on the hug “yes, I finally have girls crushing on me!” Rory said excitedly, “ha, ha, ha yeah, don’t get too excited there still only ten and 12 years old.” Emily said, “Come on guys we have to go we have five minutes till midnight.” Amy said she’s right; let’s see what Jesse and his creeps are up to.” I said, “I think they went upstairs.” Chloe said, and we went back inside

“Hey, have any of you noticed in horror movies, the blond always gets killed first, specifically the obnoxious blonds.” Emily said, looking over at Rory, “what are you implying Emily?” I asked suspiciously, “yeah, Rory is not obnoxious.” Mable said, “Well, he can be.” Benny said, “Shut your face!” Mabel exclaimed in Rory’s defense “all right, all right just remember, you don’t have to outrun the vampires you just have outrun Rory.” Emily said, “Hey, that’s good advice… Hey, that’s me!” Rory exclaimed causing Emily and Benny to laugh a little. When we got upstairs, we overheard everything Jesse said to his friends.

“Just be patient hm? In a few short days, we will have our revenge. And more: We will have this whole town! But the prophecy can’t be fulfilled until we meet our target. Two hundred and nineteen, soul for soul.” Jesse said over a cheering crowd, “lame, where’s the band?” Rory asked, “Shh.” Benny hushed, “but I just.” Shh.” Benny shushed again, “It’ll be an incredible night, like something out of a movie.” Jesse said, “Movie, schmovie the Rorster needs food.” Rory said, causing Benny to cover his mouth with his hand “enough talk; we’re all hungry, the moon is full. Let’s eat.” Jesse said, “We have to get out of here!” Emily said in a panicked whisper, “she’s right; we have to leave, fast.” Ethen said as we carefully climbed down the stairs. I took Rory by the hand and my rainbow wand in the other looking back behind me to make sure we weren’t being followed.

“It’s locked.” Ethen said, trying the doorknob, “oh, let’s just go back the way we came, we can help Rory scale the gate.” Mimi said as we tried to run back outside “whoa, whoa, where are you girls going, you’re just in time for dinner.” Gord said, “Sweet, what’s on the menu?” Rory asked causing Benny to facepalm. “Us, Rory the menu’s us!” Ethen said, “Ohh.” Rory said, “If I were you, I would run.” I said, “If I were me, I would run too!” Mable said, “Mmm! Ah! Don’t they look delicious?” Jesse asked, “thank you. You know that has got to be the nicest thing- and you mean delicious as in food, didn’t you?!” Mimi asked angrily, “curses; we’re surrounded by vampires! You know saying that out loud this is not the highlight of our careers.” Emily said, “It’s the highlight of my career.” Mabel said wide-eyed, “Hey, did Erica have fangs the last time we talked to her?” She asked, “no, of course not.” I said, “Well, she’s got some now!” Mabel exclaimed “wait? What?!” I exclaimed I looked over to Erica and she did indeed have vampire fangs (and no they were not fake.) “Aww, Erica those fangs look so adorable on you.” I said

“You can’t not them; I know these kids I’m babysitting them.” Sarah pleaded, “Well, I’m sorry, but wait, you still need a babysitter?” Jesse asked, “oh, no, no no. He, he needs a babysitter.” Benny said, pointing to Ethen. “No, I don’t.” Ethen said, “So, why exactly do need a babysitter?” Gord asked “no one here needs a babysitter, okay? Ethen said, “Correction, it’s actually his eight-year-old sister Jane’s babysitter, Erica was supposed to do it, but obviously she’s here, so Sarah stepped in.” I explained, “Though, none of this would have happened if Ethen actually took care of her last week. And I’m not helping your case am I?” Mable asked, “no, no, you not.” Ethen replied, “Yeah, sorry, bud.” Mabel said “even though, just because he’s a vampire does he have to be such a dorkwad? I mean seriously.” Benny said causing Gurd to almost attack him “whoa! Whoa! Stop! Stop! Stop! Initiation will follow traditions. Fledglings drink first.” Jesse said as a vampire pushed Rory in front of Sarah.

“No, not Rory. I just told him I have a crush on him! Probably shouldn’t have that out loud.” I said yeah, you probably shouldn’t that will come back to haunt you later.” Mabel said, “Things aren’t looking good, do you think we could dance our way out of here?” I asked, “Dance our way? Dance our way?! Who do you think this is? Bowser’s minions? Count Bleck’s minions? Some other big shot bad guy that will let us waltz right out of here with our lives, minions?” Emily asked, “Okay, I get your point.” I said as I went to Rory’s side, “hear his heart pumping? It’s the beat of a whole new world waiting for you. One were you’ll never die, never grow old. One bite, and it’s yours.” Jesse said, “Sarah, don’t!” Ethen exclaimed trying to pull Sarah away from Rory but touching her caused him to have another vision this time Ethen saw a church and fire. “Did you get another vision?” I asked, “Yeah, I did.” Ethen said, “What is causing this?” I asked myself, “Oh, I’ll do it.” Erica said, pushing Sarah out of the way. I didn’t know what to do; my first instinct was to pull out my rainbow wand, but I didn’t want to start a scene. I also didn’t want to risk hurting Sarah and Erica. My second hope was that Erica would realize what she was doing and control herself long enough to help us, but upon looking into her eyes, she had nothing but excitement in them. So helping us was out of the question. I turned to Ethen and Benny for ideas as I tightened my grip on Rory’s hand.

“Erica, no!” Sarah exclaimed, “hey girls, there’s no need to fight over me.” Rory said just before Erica took a bite out of him, turning her into a full-fledged vampire. Even though the thrill caused her to faint, but she wasn’t the only one. “Seriously, two of you on the ground is bad enough! Now, what do we do?!” Emily asked when she caught me “save the love of my life.” I said, “Not going to happen.” She said as she dropped me “ha, ha, see what did I tell you the blond always dies first.” Emily said just then Sarah broke off two chair legs to use as wooden steaks. “Back off! I mean it!” Sarah said, “Sarah, seriously, where can you go?” Jesse asked, “Now can we use the hats?” Mabel asked, “Now; we can use the hats.” Emily replied, “I’ll take the sword.” Mabel said, “Do you even know how to use it?” Emily asked as she gave it to her.” “Nope, ahhhhh!!!” Mabel yelled as she charged, “Benny, come on.” Ethen said as they spilled the fruit punch, and threw a lamp in the mess causing two vampires to get electrocuted. “Pika-chu. Oh, that’s right; I can control the intensity of the Pikachu power.” I said as I just electrified some vampires with my Pikachu hat “seriously, you just remembered that now?” Mabel asked, “Well, I haven’t used this hat in a while and when you have as many magic hats as I do. You tend to forget!” I exclaimed

“Come on; we have to get out of here.” Emily said, “No, not without Rory and Erica.” I said, “Just leave them. I’m sure Jesse will look after them.” She said, “It’s true; I will.” Jesse said, putting his hand on my shoulder, “ahhhh.” Emily and I screamed, “Will you stop doing that!” I said, “Look, I’ll take care of your friends for you, and give you a five-second head start to run deal.” Jesse said, “On one hand I shouldn’t trust you, but on the other hand, I think I no choice but to trust you.” I said, “Wow that, is one cruel irony right there.” Rory said, looking up at us, “I know, tell me about it.” I replied to him, “look Dakota just leave us, okay? I don’t want you getting hurt. I promise you we’ll be okay.” Erica said “as much as it hurts me to leave you both behind, I guess it won’t do us any good if I get a bit too. Alright fine, just take good care of them okay there special to me.” I said, “don’t worry, I will you can trust me, and this time, I mean it when I say it.” Jesse said, “Bye, guys, see you tomorrow or at school. Whatever comes first?” I said to them as I ran to catch up with the others “bye, Dakota, see you soon.” Erica called out “yeah, kick some undead but for me. Those vampires are going to wish they never missed with us, are they?"

Rory asked Erica, “absolutely.” She replied we all ran until we got outside “run, just run, don’t even bother looking back!” Emily exclaimed, “We’re dead, we’re so dead!” Benny exclaimed, “No, it’s okay we just need to find Sarah.” Ethen said, “no, she’s abandoned us, are you kidding me!” Benny exclaimed, “There she is.” Cindy said, pointing to Sarah at the front gate, “come on, guys hurry!” Sarah called out, “I’m running as fast as I can. My legs are really short, considering I’m a Heartless!” Emily exclaimed

“Where’s the warp stars?! Where’s the warp stars?!” Amy asked, “We didn’t bring them, remember? Someone said they would bring to much attention to us.” I said, “Oh, just call them!” Amy said, “With pleasure.” I said, calling the warp stars with my signature wolf whistle. We claimed the fence and met up with Sarah and was about to run to the car when we got ambushed by vampires again. But Ethen and Benny had a plain their new Sun-sabers “we’re harnessing the force of the sun!” Ethen said, “It’s actually ultraviolet radiation in a spectrum similar to the sun.” Benny explained “no way! It works!” Ethen said, “This is so wick!” Benny exclaimed “good thing, your grandma likes to tan. It’s from his grandma’s tanning bed.” Ethen explained, “you guys are king dorks!” Sarah exclaimed, “The force is strong in you, young Padawan.” Benny said in a Yoda impression, “you’re the padawan I’m the Jedi!” Ethen said, “Yeah right, I’m the Jedi master!” Benny said, “now can we run to the car?!” Sarah asked, “Guys, look the warp stars!” Chloe said, “Quick girls, fly. Flutter your wings, ladies!” Emily exclaimed as we flow to the warp stars, “Ah! I can’t fly!” Mabel said, trying to catch up, “don’t worry Mabe’s I got you!” Mimi said carrying Mable to my warp star “phhhhhhee, good luck catching us now losers!” Emily yelled to the vampires, “Emily! Don’t antagonize them!” I said, “Oh, right, sorry.” She said

As we flow back to Ethen house, we looked back to make sure we weren’t being followed “well, that rescue mission was a failure.” Emily said, “All in favor of never doing that again.” “I,” we all said, “is everyone alright?” I asked, “We’re okay!” Everyone said “oh, I didn’t ask for this all I wanted was a nice calm high school experience, not dealing with vampires a-and prophecies. This is not real, no this not real. I’m dreaming yeah that’s it; I must have fallen asleep watching one of those vampire movies with Jane. I will be waking up any second now to Erica knocking on Ethen’s door, and none of this would have ever happened.” Amy said, “Any second now, any second. Why am I not waking up? Why aren’t I waking up?! This can’t be happening; this is not happening!” Amy exclaimed hyperventilating “oh boy, she’s freaking out again, Mimi do you mind calming her down? Just rub her shoulder.” Emily said, “Yeah, I got it. Amy breathe, breathe its okay this is real. Hey, can I have some water?” Mimi asked, “Here you go.” I said giving Mimi the water bottle “okay; I’m calm, it’s just that this isn’t real, is it? Vampires exist in our universe? This can’t be happening.” Amy said, “It can, and it is. Face it, Amy; we got a mission to stop Jesse and his weirdos.” Emily said, “Ohh, why does this always have to happen to us when we try to relax?” Amy asked, “trust me, sis, I’ve been asking that question for years.” Emily said

When we got back to our neighborhood, we dropped Benny and the car off at his house, and we went back to Ethen’s place. When we got inside the mess that was made was cleaned up, and Jane was in bed. We were all exhausted and sat on the couch, waiting for Ethen’s parents to get home, but we didn’t have to wait long because. “We’re home.” Mrs. Morgan called out, “oh, hey, welcome home, good to see you’re back.” Sarah said, “Why thank you. Oh, Dakota, you and your friends are still here. Why its 12:30, I’m surprised you’re not in bed.” Mrs. Morgan said, “Um, yeah I just had so much fun with Ethen I decided to stay for a little while longer. But now that you’re home I should be going now. Sarah, do you think you could walk us home."

I asked, “Yeah, sure I would love to. See you at school Ethen. It was nice meeting you.” Sarah said, shaking Ethen’s hand (don’t worry, he didn’t get a vision this time.) “You too.” Ethen said, “good night, Ethen thanks for a great night see you tomorrow.” I said, hugging him “good night, Dakota, I love you.” He said, “Hold on. I’ll catch up in a moment.” Emily said as we left, “I gave Sarah a little bit extra because she was here so late. Your poor dad he’s already gone up it’s just like our honeymoon. Oh, it’s a long story. Anyway, Sarah said you had something important to tell me?” Mrs. Morgan said, “yeah, about that.” Emily said

“What happened here?” Mrs. Morgan asked when Ethen and Emily showed her the hole in Ethen’s bedroom door “rogue pizza delivery guy; he must have on something most likely drugs or alcohol. But don’t worry, Sarah took care of him and called the pizza place. He won’t be back here anymore. Good night Ethen.” Emily said, taking her to leave. “Were you and Benny playing lightsabers again?” Mrs. Morgan asked not believing the story Emily just told her. “Heh, yes, yes, we were.” Ethen said, opening his door “Ethen, the next time Sarah comes to sit, I’m going to tell her not to put up with any of this funny business. Do you understand me?” Mrs. Morgan asked, “Yep heh-heh sounds good to me. I blame video games.” Ethen said, “yeah, that and the rap music.” Mrs. Morgan said, “Right, thanks, Mom.” Ethen said, hugging his mom, “okay, go to bed.” She said as Ethen laid down to go to sleep

“Hey, guys, wait for me.” Emily said, running up to us, “there you are Emily, did Ethen’s mom believe the story you told her?” I asked “of course she didn’t, she thinks Ethen and Benny were playing lightsabers. But it looks like we’re off the hook. Anyway, Sarah, thank you for a crazy night. I haven’t had this much fun in, well I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun.” Emily said, “Yeah, it was pretty awesome. I just hope Rory and Erica are okay; there are going to be okay right?” I asked, “I don’t know, I’m sure Erica is alright, but I’m not sure about Rory.” Sarah said, “Ha, ha hey, I’ll bet you guys five bucks that Rory didn’t make it out of there alive.” Emily said, “oh yeah, well I’ll bet you 15 bucks plus a candy bar that Rory did make it out alive, but is also a smoking hot vampire!” Mable said, “You’re on, well looks like our house is coming up Dakota, Mabel. You don’t have to worry about brushing your teeth, just head straight up to bed.” Emily said, “Okay, Emily, good night, Sarah, see you tomorrow or Monday.” I said, “Good night, girls. I had a lot of fun with you tonight.” Sarah said she gave us all goodnight hugs and went on her way back home. As my friends and I got ready for bed, I was worried about Rory and Erica, but eventually, I manage to get to sleep.


	6. New Fanged Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One day after the failed rescue mission. Dakota and the others use this time for some much needed relaxation. But when Rory comes back to school now as a full vampire. He tells the gang about what Jesse is up to next. It's time to leap back into action and find out just what is Jesse's true goal.

I awoke the next morning from a pleasant dream. In my dream; I was with Rory in the park, we were both running and laughing on the green grass when we found a bench and sat there for a break. I felt happy having Rory with me, as we both sat there, staring deep into each other’s eyes. Rory got up and started running to a nearby hill. I got up as well and followed him, when I got up to the top of the hill where Rory was I saw the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen, I reached out to grab his hand, and I awoke from my dream, feeling around in my bed I tried to find Rory, but when I opened my eyes a twinge of sadness fell over me as I remembered the night before. 

I looked at my clock to see what time it was it was 9’oclock in the morning. I sat up in bed and looked around, holding a picture that had myself, Mabel, and Rory in it, we took the picture not long after we became friends with each other. Finally, I kissed the photo, put on my friendship heart bracelet, got dressed, and went downstairs to where my friends were.

“Hey, there you are sleepy head. I was wondering when you would wake up.” Emily greeted, “good morning, Dakota, how are you feeling?” Chloe asked, “I’m feeling ok, tired, but I’m ok. I just still can’t believe it; Erica might have just cost me the boy of my dreams.” I said, “The boy of your dreams! Dakota, you met him a week ago.” Emily said, “Well! It was the best week of my life!” I shouted but not loud enough to wake someone up, “hey, we’re having waffles you want some?” Esamanda asked, “Thanks, Esamanda, I would love whoa!” I exclaimed as I was about to sit down on a chair it transformed into a little yellow mouse-like creature (and no it was not a Pikachu.) “Oh, sorry Speedy, I didn’t see you there. Well, I can’t see any of you when you transform into household objects.” I said “I still can’t believe the Petz fantasy eggs hatched last night. And in the middle of the night, no less.” Emily said, “me neither, I still can’t believe that: Star, Fire Sparks, Speedy, and Pink Pegasus all hatched from those eggs.” Amy said, “Yeah, do you remember when we got home last night? We put our backpacks on the coat rack; that’s when we remembered we didn’t have a coat rack.” Esamanda said, “Yeah, also coat racks don’t have eyes either.” Lizzy said, “Tell me about it, the Petz love transforming into ordinary objects. Just this morning, I tripped on Star when he was transformed into a soccer ball thankfully, neither of us was hurt.” Emily said

“Hey, how long are the pets staying here, anyway? I mean, we can’t let anyone see them.” Mimi said, “Don’t worry Mimi; the pets will stay here until there strong to live in the Magic World. But for now, they need to stay here so we can train them.” Emily explained, “Ok, that’s good, I’m just afraid someone will see them. But it’s a good thing we have all the right stuff we need to look after them.” Mimi said, “Yeah, Emily, I still can’t believe you got all this stuff from buying one camera.” Amy said, “Eh, it was a two for one deal. Besides, the store clerk did say I had some magical qualities to me.” Emily said, mocking a hair flip. Just then we heard footsteps coming down the stairs “oh, good morning Mabel. Good to see you’re awake.” I said, “Actually, I don’t think I am yet. Because I don’t remember having a pink Pegasus for a pet.” Mabel said, pointing to Pink Pegasus who was riding on her shoulder. “Oh Mabel, that’s Pink Pegasus. Don’t you remember? She’s one of the fantasy Petz that hatched last night.” I explained, “To be fair; I still can’t believe this whole thing is real. When I woke up this morning, I thought last night’s events was just a crazy dream I had because I watched too many vampire movies. But I know it’s real I just can’t believe Erica bit, Rory, last night.” Mabel said

“You’re really worried about him, aren’t you?” Emily asked “of cause I am, Rory’s my best friend. I know I only met him a week ago, but I still care about him.” Mabel said, “By the way have you heard anything from Rory or Erica today?” “Sorry, Mabel, I texted and called Erica a few times today nothing, I haven’t heard anything from Rory ether.” Amy said, “But I did get a text from Sarah.” “Really? What did it say?” I asked, “that’s just it; she texted to see if we heard anything from Erica.” Amy said, “Well, that’s just great.” Esamanda said sarcastically, “but, I do have some good news to put your minds at ease. I went on a website that show’s missing people reports, and Rory and Erica aren’t on it, and Ethen called me 15 minutes ago to tell me that Rory and Erica’s parents didn’t call them to if Erica was still at Ethen’s house or to see if Rory was hanging out with us.” Amy explained, “That just shows that they must have made it home.” She said, “Or, they’ll save Rory for later.” Emily suggested, “How long did Erica bite Rory for?” Mabel asked, “for a split second or two, you where there Mabel, you would know.” I said, “That’s what I thought, I don’t think they’ll finish him off. I believe Rory’s a fledgling vampire now.” Mabel said, “You see, vampire blood is poisonous to other vampires. Once the vampire venom gets into your bloodstream, your blood becomes tainted, and your heart will stop, that’s how the curse manifest.” Mabel explained

“Wow, even I couldn’t tell you that, that’s neat Mabel.” I said “yeah, and since Erica didn’t suck Rory dry I’m pretty sure he’s fine. Though he’s probably vampire now. But hey, you don’t see me complaining!” Mabel said excitedly, “yeah, I thank it would be pretty cool having a love interest who’s a vampire.” I said, “yeah, even if it is a vampire nerd.” Emily teased “anyway changing the subject, Ethen called and wanted to know if we wanted to hang out with him and Benny today. He thought the downtime would be good for all of us.” Emily said, “Yeah, that sounds like fun. It would be good for us to get to know those wonderful boys a bit better; I’m in.” I said, “We’re in to!” Everyone agreed, “Great; you guys go on ahead; I’ll catch up later.” Emily said, “Whatcha, doing Em’s?” Chloe asked

“Working on our brand new secret room.” Emily said with a toolbox in her hand, “Emily! I told you I don’t want you doing that!” Amy exclaimed, “Don’t worry, that’s why I’m going alone, so if I get caught, I’m the only one who will get blamed.” Emily explained, “Besides, after everything we’ve been through, I think having somewhere to go secretly is just what we need. Think about it; we could have secret meetings.” Emily said excitedly, “but what if you get caught?” Cindy asked, “That’s why I’m working on it over the weekend. Think about, the school is practically empty, there’s no Saturday detention going on, and not to mention the school has a lousy security system. I’ll be fine.” Emily said, “Well, it would be pretty sweet having a secret area in our lockers. I say we go for it.” Chloe said, “Alright fine, but I don’t want any part of your plan. I have something else I’m working on.” Amy said

“What’s that studying?” Emily asked mockingly “as a matter of fact I am, but not the stuff you think. I’m studying something a little more supernatural.” Amy said, “What are you working on, Amy?” I asked, “I’m studying the cause of Ethen’s visions.” Amy said, “you?! You’re studying psychic powers?!” Emily asked, “why yes, yes, I I’m. I read about this psychic phenomenon a long time ago, but I can’t remember where. So, I’m looking on the internet to see if I can find anything.” Amy explained, “I’m also trying to find something that can give us a clue about what Jesse is up to. I know I said I wanted us to live normally, but it seems like we have ourselves another life threating situation we need to sort out.” She explained, “Just give me a half hour to an hour, then we can hang out with the boys.” Amy said, “alright, Amy, take all the time you need.it is important that we find out what Jesse and his friends are up to. And who knows, maybe we’ll be one step ahead of him.” I said

“I just hope this doesn’t end in a certain disaster.” Mable said, “Ha, trust me, Mabel, hang out with us long enough, and a certain disaster is sure to follow.” Chloe said, “Ha-ha, so true Chloe so true.” Emily laughed, “So wait, now that we’re back in the whole, saving the world business. Does that mean we can?!” “Yes, Mimi, I’ll make plans for us to show Ethen, Benny and Sarah, our Alvin and the Chipmunks dance routines.” Amy said, “Yes! I have waited to hear those words my entire life!” Mimi exclaimed “anyway; I’ll see you guys later, I’ll let you know if I spot Sarah, Erica or Rory and I’ll even ask them if they want to hang out with us Emily said, “thanks Emily, see you soon.” I said as she walked out the door.

The weekend was pretty uneventful, all we did was hang out with Ethen and Benny and even Sarah hanged out with us. We became pretty close to each other pretty fast. But there was still no sign of Rory or Erica; in fact, there was no sign of Jesse and his friend’s either. We thought that maybe things were returning to normal. Boy where we wrong because things picked up again on Monday. It was the end of one of our afternoon classes, and we got a 20-minute break until History started, so we went outside for some fresh air. “So I was thinking, do you guys want to go grab some cupcakes or smoothies later?” I asked, “how about both? I could go for a snack.” Benny said, “Sure I got time, I could go for a bite. Why don’t we ask Sarah and see if she wants to come to.” Ethen said, “Well, considering we have a 20-minute break, I say, let’s go.” Emily said, “We can take the warp stars; that way, we’ll have plenty of time to enjoy ourselves.” Cindy said

I was looking for a place to call our warp stars so we wouldn’t be noticed when all of sudden. “Guy’s! What’s up?!” Rory said, walking up to us, “Rory!” I exclaimed, “Rory, you’re alive!” Mabel exclaimed as we both ran to him for a hug “oh Rory, I was so worried about you. I thought you were a goner, don’t you ever scare me like that again.” I said, tightening my grip on him and wiping tears from my eyes, “I was worried about you to. But I knew you would be ok.” Mabel said, “Sorry guys, I should have called you, I just had to get used to this thing. I’m sorry I worried you.” Rory said as he hugged us, “Rory, thank goodness you’re ok.” Amy said, “Rory, you’re. We thought you were dead.” Ethen said, “All I know is, I woke up the morning after the party feeling awesome. No asthma, I don’t need my glasses, and I barely have to sleep anymore. The only problems the sun: Kind of annoying.” Rory said, “Aww, I thought you were ten times cuter with your glasses on. But, you do look hot with sunglasses. But yeah, the sun is kind of annoying” I said

“Yeah, you look good, love the new threads. But what’s going on with your hair dude? Did some vampire chick lend you her curling iron? Cause that’s not a hairdo, that’s a hair don’t.” Emily said, “I don’t know, I think Rory looks cute with his hair up like that.” Chloe said, “yeah, but Emily’s not wrong. Well, she’s wrong about it being a hair don’t, But it does look funny. It’s hysterical and adorable all at the same time. It’s, oh boy what would you get if you crossed hysterical and adorable? It’s,” I said, “historical?” Mabel suggested “no, Mabel that’s already a word. It’s huh, hysterica-“hystericable!” Mabel said, “Yes! It’s hystericable, good one, Mabel.” I laughed, “so, anyway. Rory, you’re a fledgling to?” Benny asked “pfft, heck, no! I’m rocking the full-on vampire action dude. The big V!” Rory said, making a V with his fingers, “can I get a what-what.” He said, holding his hand up for a high five. “What?” “What?” Emily and Amy said together, “What?” I said, “what?!” Mabel said wide-eyed “see, I told you Rory would become a smoking hot vampire! Pay up!” Mabel said, snapping her fingers then holding her hand out for Emily to pay her end of the bargain. “Alright fine, here’s your 15 bucks, and what sort of candy bar would you like?” Emily asked, “I’ll have a Milky Way, and make it a king sized.” Mabel said, “But, then I’ll need the 15 bucks back.” Emily said

“What? You drank human blood?” Ethen asked, “They said if I didn’t, I’d die. All the other kids were doing it!” Rory said, “Do you have any idea what you’ve done to yourself?” Benny said “I’m immortal and all-powerful, dude. Ka-chow!” Rory said, “ha ha, isn’t he just the cutest?” I gushed, “Sorry, I gotta go to church.” Rory said when Jesse’s friends showed up. “Church, vampire’s don’t do church.” Ethen said, “Jesse says we have to, he’s so bossy. He’s all, blah-blah the prophecy, and blah-blah you most find the Cuban animals, or-“Cuban animals?!” We exclaimed, “What are you talking about?” Benny asked “Rory? Are you trying to speak Latin?” Amy asked, “I don’t know. That’s what it sounds like. Anyway, we’ll hang out later, or “fang-out!” Zing.” Rory said showing off his new vampire fangs (which are very cute on him by the way.) “Hey, Dakota before I go can I have a.” But Rory didn’t need to finish his sentence. Because I already ran into his arms for a hug.” Wow! I didn’t even get to tell you what I wanted, you’re good!” Rory said, “Yeah, that’s something else you should know about me. If you’re looking for love, you don’t have to say a word.” I said, “Anyway, I should go, see you guys later.” Rory said as he walked off, “oh, Rory is just so precious!” I gushed, “Yeah, that’s one way to describe him.” Emily said

“Dakota?! Dakota, Dakota, Dakota, Dakota?!” Mabel asked excitedly and shaking my arm, “what Mabel!? What?” I said to get her to stop shaking me, “remember when I said last week? The only thing that would make Rory hotter is if he was a vampire?” Mabel asked, “Yeah, I have a recollection of you saying that.” I said “well, he’s a vampire now! And he’s hotter!!” Mabel exclaimed “oh, my goodness you’re right! Eeee!” I squealed in delight “all right, Mabel we need to process this in the most not freaking out way possible.” I said, “You’re right, we have to be calm. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Mabel asked “yep” I replied”3” “2” “1” “Ahhh!” We screamed we then both grabbed each other’s hands and started spinning together. “Dakota?! I thought you said you weren’t into vampires?” Emily asked, “I’m not, but I’m into Rory, so I’ll make an exception.” I said, “yeah, and I was in love with him before he was a vampire. But now that he is one, that’s a win-win, that’s two wins.” Mabel said, “Oh, these two are going to be so much fun this semester.” Emily said, “hey, don’t you think what Rory told us was strange? I mean about the Cuban animals and what Jesse told them?” Lizzy asked, “Yeah, it is Ethen, are you thinking what I hope you’re thinking I’m thinking?” Emily asked, “Yeah, if it’s about following them, then yes. Come on grab your backpacks we’re going to church.” Ethen said, “What?” Benny asked “yeah, right now? What about my perfect attendance record?” Amy asked

“Amy?! What is more important? A check mark on a piece of paper? Or other people’s lives? So?” Emily asked, I’m thinking! No, you’re right, we have to go. As angels, it’s our job to protect the innocent, and if Jesse is planning on bringing harm to others. Then it’s our job to stop him.” Amy said, “I know you would see things my way. Now let’s go.” Emily said as we ran off, “hey, you boys wouldn’t happen to know how to get to “Whitechapel Chapel” would you?” Emily asked, stopping in her tracks, “yeah, we do follow us.” Ethen said, “I think we should walk, flying the warp stars could bring attention to ourselves. Plus those vampires could be flying.” I said, “she’s right; come guys let’s go.” Emily said, and we went on our way. Walking down the sidewalk with my friends, and looking up at the clear blue sky, I felt a rush of happiness come over me. With the added relief that I had, knowing Rory was ok made me feel even Happier, so much so. That I started skipping. “Isn’t it a beautiful day today.” I said, “Well, someone’s happy.” Emily said, “What makes you say that?” I asked, “Well, you’re skipping; you’ve got a big smile on your face.” Benny said, “I know why, she’s happy that Rory’s safe.” Ethen said, “Ok, you got me. I am happy that he’s ok.” I said, “I’m happy to, even though he’s a vampire now, but hey, I don’t mind.” Mabel said, “I know we’re happy about Rory, but we have to focus on the task at hand. We need to find out what Jesse is up to, if we don’t, it could spell disaster.” Amy said, “no one can spell disaster! Daz, diz, its imposable!” Mabel exclaimed

“You’re right.” Emily said, “Which one of us?” Mabel asked, “Both of you. With the evidence that has been provided, we know that Jesse is going to bring harm to the citizens of Whitechapel. And what we overheard at Jesse’s party last Friday. We know it can’t be good.” Emily said, “Yeah, Emily, you might want to text Sarah about this.” Amy said, “I’m already on it.” Emily said with her phone in her hands, when she finished texting Sarah. She caught Amy muttering to herself. “What are you muttering about?” Emily asked, “I’m trying to remember what Rory said.” Amy said, “You’re trying to remember something Rory said? You know how random that kid is.” Emily said, “It’s just that one specific word, Cuban animals. I’ve heard of it before, it’s Latin for something, but I can’t remember what it means.” Amy said, “Cuban animals, is Latin for something? Wow, and I thought Latin was weird enough as it is.” Esamanda said “obviously it’s pronounced differently, but when Rory said it, I knew I’ve heard it before. I just, have to remember how to say it, cubay Cuba ugh! It’s on the tip of my tongue, and it’s driving me crazy!” Amy exclaimed, “Well whatever it is, I’m sure we’ll find out sooner than later.” I said, “Yeah, let’s hope its sooner.” Ethen said 

When we got to Whitechapel Church, we were the only ones there. “Huh, looks like we got here early.” Emily said, “Yeah, but not too early.” I said, pointing to the vampires with their hoodies up and sunglasses on. They were also carrying shovels “Quick hide.” Chloe said, we all ducked behind a gravestone and observed them. “Wish we had some holy water right about now.” Mabel said, “wait, I know where we can get some. Amy follow me.” Benny said, “oh, good idea.” Amy said, knowing what Benny was referring to. They both ran off, heading inside the church where some holy water was waiting for them. “All clear?” Amy asked, poking her head around the corner, “we’re good.” Benny said, “Alright, let’s get that holy water, get back to Ethen and the others. And hopefully, not get eaten by vampires.” Amy said, “Sounds simple enough.” Benny said “ok, here use this jug to carry the holy water.

Meanwhile, I’ll stand guard.” Amy said, “Sounds good to me.” Benny said while Benny was filling the jug with holy water, Amy noticed someone coming their way. “Benny, someone’s coming,” Amy said

“Uh it’s for my, uh it’s for my Ant Sassy. She, uh, she couldn’t get to mass. She’s got the Belgian pig flu, and stuff and Ebola!” Benny said to the man, “Anyway, I got to go. Keep the faith, eh.” Benny said, taking his leave “ah ha ha, ha, uh. I give you my angel's blessing, ha ha ha.” Amy said, laughing nervously, and following Benny. “Seriously, the Belgian pig flu, Ebola? Benny! People haven’t been affected by those diseases in. Well, it’s been so long even I can’t remember how long it’s been.” Amy said, “Sorry, I panicked. Come on; let’s get back to Ethen and the others.” Benny said, “Please, please, please, don’t get us killed.” Amy pleaded, “There they are.” I said when Benny and Amy got into view. “Shh! They’re over there. Ethen said, “Look at them. Hoodies and sunglasses.” Benny said, “Nice look if you’re a-” “hey.” Sarah said, coming up to us, “ah!” We exclaimed, “Oh, Sarah, it’s just you, thank goodness.” I said, “Looking good.” Benny said, “What are you doing here?” Ethen asked “same as you. I'm following them.” Sarah said, “I see you got my text.” Emily said, “Yeah, I did, thanks for the tip.” Sarah said, “I just wish I know what they're up to.” She said, “Well, according to Rory, they’re after the Cuban animals.” Benny said, “Hey, speaking of Rory he said he would be here, but I don’t see him in the crowd.” I said, “How can you tell any of them apart, when they have their sunglasses on, and their hoodies up.” Cindy said 

“Uh, wait, I think I see him, over there next to the vampire’s facing us.” Emily said, “Wait, those two over there? I think you’re right.” I said, “Yeah, I recognize his face, plus, I think I see some of his blond hair sticking out of his hoodie. And he’s shorter compared to everyone else.” Emily explained, “You know, I always felt like Rory was kind of short for his age.” I said “no, actually for a boy Rory’s age he’s just fine. But anyway, what were we talking about?” Emily asked, “uh, the Cuban animals.” Esamanda said, “Cuban animals? You mean cubile animus. I’ve heard Jesse mention before. I think its Latin or something.” Sarah said, “That’s it! Cubile animus, now I remember! Now if only I can remember what it means.” Amy said, “Ugh!” We all groaned, “Benny, pull up Wikipedia for the poor girl.” Emily said, “I’m on it.” Benny said already typing on his phone. As we were continuing to watch the vampires, Sarah placed her hand on Ethen’s shoulder. Causing him to once again, you guessed it have another vision. This time around, Ethen saw a gravestone, but the numbers on it disappeared, leaving behind the number 219. He also saw the cubile animus itself. “Two hundred and nineteen.” Ethen said when his vision stopped, “Ethen, did you get another vision?” I asked, but before he could answer me Benny found what he was looking for

“Ok, Wikipedia says that cubile animus means “nest of souls.” Benny explained, “That doesn’t sound good.” Mabel said, “Ha if it’s going to be used to hurt people, it probably isn’t.” Esamanda said, “I think I just saw it, this little box with weird carvings on it.” Ethen explained “a box? Like that one?” Sarah asked, pointing to the box that the vampires just dug up. “Oh, no.” I said, “The cubile animus.” Ethen said, “Great, how long till something hatches?” Benny asked, “I don’t think it’s that kind of nest genius.” Emily said, “We have to stop them.” Ethen said, “Oh Ethen, I thought that was obvious. That’s why we’re here, isn’t it!” Emily exclaimed “Shh! They’ll hear us.” I hushed “your right, ok guys here’s the plan: Will all jump out into the open and take down those vampires. There’s twelve of us and eight of them including Rory. And something tells me he won’t put up too big of a fight. Ha, I bet Sarah can kick his undead, but in two seconds flat, I bet I could take him down in two seconds flat with my arm tied behind my back.” Emily said

“Emily, we can’t hurt them yet.” I said, “why not?” She asked, “Look if we take them out now, one could escape and warn Jesse. He could come after us. Plus, I don’t want to risk hurting Rory.” I warned, “She’s right.” Ethen agreed, “alright new approach: will take down the vampires minus Rory, steal the cublie animus, tie them up, and force them to tell us what have they down with Erica.” Emily explained, “That’s right, we haven’t seen Erica in days. I was so worried about Rory. I forgot all about her.” I said, “heh, lucky for us; we’ve got a fresh supply of anti-vampire juice.” Benny said, showing us the jug full of holy water, but some water spilled out and got on Sarah. “Ow! What the heck!?” Sarah exclaimed which caused the vampires to notice us. “Uh, oh.” I said, “Run!” Mabel exclaimed, “Quick, grab on.” I said putting on my new Petz Fantasy super speed hat. “Super speed, don’t fail me now,” I said as we ran off and just in time too. “Phew, that, that was a close one.” Mimi said, “Yeah, no, kidding.” I said trying to catch my breath

“Whoa, where did you lean that? Did you get bit by a vampire or something?” Sarah asked, “If I did, you would have known about it, besides I wouldn’t let myself get bit by any old vampire. If I were to get bit, I would want Rory to do it.” I said, “This is our new super speed hat, we got it when Emily brought her camera from a thrift store. This hat is based on the speed pets from the Petz Fantasy game; we have the others to except the flight one that’s coming in next week.” I explained, “So what’s with these visions? You get them often?” Sarah asked, “No, they started when you showed up. It’s like a door opens to a whole other dimension or something.” Ethen explained, “I think it happens when we touch here.” Ethen said, reaching his hand out, “nice try Casanova.” Sarah said, pulling away “can’t blame a player for trying.” Benny said, “But maybe I’d get visions to if I-“cut it out.” Ethen said slapping Benny’s hand away “sorry.” Benny said, “You don’t get visions.” Ethen said to him, “and if I see that hand again, I’ll consider it a snack.” Sarah said

“Ethen, I think I know why you’re having these visions, I believe your third eye has opened.” Amy explained, “Wow! Ethen has a third eye?! I bet it’s on the back of his head. Because my mom has eyes on the back of her head to.” Mabel said, “No Mabel not a physical eye.” Amy said, “Wait I’ve of that before, doesn’t the third eye represent psychic powers? I thought that only shows up in young children. Which is why some kids can see ghosts.” I said, “mm-hmm, it is, but some powers show up later in life, which is why I believe Ethen has the powers of a seer.” Amy explained, “A seer!” We exclaimed “yes, a seer s.e.e.r. And get this, seers are real psychics.” Amy explained, “whoa a psychic that’s not a fraud."

Mabel said making a mind blown gestor “yep, according to my research, when a seer comes into contact of something with significant they can have visions that depict the past, present, and future. They can also see a person’s true motives.” Amy explained, “Wow, that’s neat, but why are Ethen’s powers showing up now? And why is it when Ethen touches Sarah, he seems to see the things that seems to be connected to Jesse’s motives and not her own thoughts?” I asked, “To answer your first question. According to what I’ve read, the visions show up around puberty, and since Ethen is fourteen, his powers are surfacing naturally. As for your second question, I don’t have a definitive answer. But I do have a few theories.” Amy said

“My first theory is that maybe it has something to do with Jesse and Sarah’s psychic bond? I mean they did date for a while. And just because they broke up doesn’t mean their psychic bond was broken. Ethen’s powers could be using Sarah as loophole or another alternative. Or a part of Jesse could be within Sarah after he bit her, but I feel like the first theory is more likely.” Amy explained, “So Jesse never told you what the prophecy is? Or what 219 means?” Ethen asked, “I’m just a fledging remember? He’d only tell a real vampire. Sarah said, “None of them is dumb enough to just tell us.” Benny said, “Well one them is.” Ethen said, “And I have his number.” Benny replied, “are you guys calling who I think you’re calling?!” Mabel asked excitedly, “yep; we’re getting Rory’s help.” Ethen said, “Yes!” Mabel and I exclaimed “well, just because we don’t know what the prophecy is, doesn’t mean we can’t figure it out. Let’s go over the clues.” Emily said, “well, we know about the cubile animus, the only other lead we have is the numbers 2 19 from Ethen’s vision.” I said, “2 19 what could that mean? What is that: a gravestone number? An address? An apartment floor?” Emily suggested, “wait, 2 19? Guys, that’s 219 that sounds like a target number.” Amy said, “Wait that sounds familiar. What did Jesse say that we overheard last Friday?” Mimi asked

“He said that the prophecy can’t be fulfilled without their target.” Chloe said, “Wait two hundred and nineteen.” I said, “Soul for soul.” Mabel said, “oh no.” Lizzy said, “Well, looks like we know what the cubile animus is for.” Esamanda said, “Great; we solved the case.” Mabel said, “Not quite Mabel, we haven’t even scratched the surface yet,” I said, “we haven’t?” Mabel asked, “Nope we haven’t, we know what the vampires are after, and we know their motives, but we don’t know why they're doing this. Or what they think they can gain from this.” Emily explained, “Looks like we got a lot to discuss.” I said, “Yes, but not out in the open; those vampires could be watching us.” Cindy warned, “She’s right, they could be anywhere. We have no idea who we can trust.” Emily said, “well, we can trust: Sarah, Rory, and hopefully, Erica when we see her again.” I said, “Ok, but other than that, we have no idea who we can trust. Even someone as simple as a flower vendor could be a vampire! They even could be that tree!” Emily exclaimed, pointing to the tree. “Wow, the vampires disguised themselves as a tree?! Wow, their good!” Mabel exclaimed, “Mabel, the vampires are behind the tree.” Emily said, “Oh that makes much more sense.” Mabel said “well, despite the exaggeration she’s right. If we’re being spied on and we don’t know it, Jesse could get the jump on us, and it would be our fault. We need a place to talk secretly that no one would expect to look.” I said

“And I know just the place, back to the school.” Emily said, “The school? But why? Classes are down for the day.” I said, “Exactly, we need somewhere to talk secretly, and I just finished our new Secret Room.” Emily said, “You finished it?” I asked, “Eh, I worked out most of the kinks. But it’s officially useable come on what are we waiting for? To the Secret Room.” Emily said


	7. Dark Secrets Revealed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that the nest of souls has been unburied. Ethen and the others now have to find out how will it help the vampires. Dark secrets will be discovered about Jesse's past.

“Uh, Emily? This is just our normal lockers. It doesn’t look like you did anything.” Amy said, “ah, looks are deceiving my dear sister. Watch this.” Emily said, pulling out what looked like a garage door opener. She then pushed a button, and we heard something opening nearby. Emily then opened one of our lockers and what we saw blow our minds. “Welcome to the Secret Room, ladies,” Emily said, holding the door for us to get inside. The room itself was big, which made sense considering it was an old storage room, it was also dark, and there were no windows either. If there were, they were patched up when the room was sealed off. There were three vents on each side of the room, which Emily told us about. Finally, there was a table, chairs, and some books on a shelf that Emily set up herself. “So what do you think? Do you like it?” Emily asked, “Like it, Emily. This is amazing.” I said, “Thanks, sorry it’s so dark I need to get some lights. Ones that won’t give us away. For now, we need to make do with this lantern” Emily said, turning a lantern on “anyway, this room is completely secret, other than us, no one knows about this. The vents are going to be tricked out so we can go anywhere in the school, and not get torn to pieces.” She explained

“And the books on the self, are old books that I checked out at the school’s library that hopefully will give us a lead.” Emily said, “Wow, Emily. I can’t believe you pulled this off.” Sarah said, “me neither, I thought for sure you would get caught.” Amy said, “Yeah, well, the school was completely empty over the weekend. Oh, by the way, watch your step when this place is completely done. I’m going to have a bucket full of holy water as a trap. So, watch out for the trip wire.” Emily said, “Thanks for the heads up.” I said, “oh yeah, one more thing. Later this week I’m gonna have a shipment of anti-vampire remedies that we’ll keep here. Just thought I’d give you a heads up.” Emily explained

“Sounds great, Emily, you really went all out. I’m proud of you.” Amy said, “Me too, I’m impressed this is a pretty cool set up. Now come on; let’s see what we can find.” Ethen said “he’s right, come on guys pull up a chair and grab a book. We're going vampire hunting.” Emily said we were all reading for a little while, but we didn’t find anything on Jesse or the cubile animus. “Did anybody find anything?” Cindy asked, “No.” We all said, “Ugh, come on, there has to a clue somewhere that will tell us what Jesse is up to. Keep looking; we can’t give up.” Amy said, “Ah, I found it!” Emily exclaimed, “you found something that can help us stop Jesse?!” Amy Asked “no my 3d grade math homework. Pfft, addition, like I’m gonna use that in real life.” Emily said, “Keep looking.” Amy said

“You know, I think the problem is we don’t have an exact date to pinpoint. We don’t even know where to start.” Mimi said, “She’s right.” I said, “Well then, let’s go over the clues, what do we know thanks to Ethen’s visions?” Amy asked, “Well, the first vision Ethen got he saw a tree and a graveyard.” Chloe said, “Well the tree doesn’t help, but the graveyard could be a hint to where the cudile animus was buried.” Emily said, “Ok, we already know that what’s next.” I asked, “The second time Ethen had a vision was at Jesse’s party.” Amy said, “That’s right. I saw Whitechapel church and fire.” Ethen explained, “Well, the church is easy that brings us back to where the cudile animus was located. But what does the fire mean?” Amy asked, “Wait, Ethen, did you see a building get burned down?” I asked, “Were there people screaming?” Esamanda asked, “And more importantly, were people roasting marshmallows?” Benny asked

“No building, no screaming, and there were definitely no marshmallows.” Ethen explained, “Oh man, too bad I could really use a snack.” Benny said, “Well, the fire symbolizes something.” Sarah said, “Wait, you don’t think it could refer to something being burned down by an angry mob, do you?” Lizzy asked, “Like something from the 18th or 19th century.” “Hey, that would be the time period vampires came from. Or at least the old ones.” Mabel said, “Hey, I think you may be on to something.” Amy said, typing on her laptop, “I found something!” Amy exclaimed “really?!” I asked as we came closer “yeah, a book it’s called “A History of Whitechapel 1894.” Amy explained, “Is it at the school’s library?” I asked, “no, but it’s at the public one.” Amy replied, “And I have great news to add to this good news.” I said with my phone in my hand “I just got a text from Rory he said he’ll come over in an hour.” I said

“That’s great, come on, guys; let’s pack up we heading to the library.” Emily said, getting her backpack, “hold on just one problem. We don’t even know if that book is there, and the vampires could be watching us. So it would be a little suspicious to have all of us go. And we don’t even know if this book can help us.” Benny said, “That’s three problems.” Ethen said, “Heh, so I guess you do use addition in real life Heh.” Emily said, “Sarah and I can get the book, you guys head back to Ethen’s house and wait for Rory.” Amy said, “sounds good to me, come on, guys; let’s go.” Benny said, “Hey, Emily, what is this?” Mabel asked, holding up a piece of paper “hey, my 3d grade science homework, so that’s where I left it. Pfft, physics like I’m gonna use that in real life.” Emily said, “Oh, come on.” Amy said, and we packed up and went our separate ways.

The girls and I went back to Ethen’s house to wait for Sarah, Amy, and Rory. While Benny went back to his house, to do some research of his own. While Ethen was on his computer looking for more information. The rest of us was reading and waiting for our friends to show up. “Ugh,” Emily groaned “where in the world?-“is Carmen San Diego? I don’t know; that’s why you need to find her.” Mabel said, “No, I mean, where Amy and Sarah are. They should be here by now; I mean, how long does it take to check out a book?” Emily asked, “Don’t worry Emily, they’ll be here soon. I also got a text from Rory he’ll be here soon as well. He’s just trying to fly over here.” I said, “Great, that won’t cause any attention for the poor boy.” Emily said, “Don’t worry about Rory; he’ll be fine.” Mabel reassured just then there was a knock at the door “hi, sorry to interrupt. Just dropping something off.” Mrs. Morgan said, carrying a laundry basket, “so, how are you girls doing?” She asked, “We’re doing great, thanks for letting us hang out with Ethen for a while.” I said, “Oh, it’s no big deal. You guys seem like your becoming really close friends.” Mrs. Morgan said

“Yeah, we love Ethen, Benny, and Rory. There the best friends we could ever ask for.” Emily said, “Well, that’s great to hear.” Mrs. Morgan said, “hey, mom?” Ethen asked, “Yeah?” She replied, “You ever, like see things? Like, things that aren’t there?” Ethen asked, “Are we um, talking about drugs?” Mrs. Morgan asked, “No.” Ethen said chuckling, “like, a vision? Or strange images that just appear?” ”No, I don’t think so, honey.” Mrs. Morgan said, “Okay, but there was this one time. I used to watch you sleep as a baby.” She said, “ha, ha yeah, that that’s not creepy at all.” Emily said, “Emily, it’s his mom. It’s totally normal for a parent to watch their kids sleep.” Cindy said, “yeah, but it’s still weird. Anyway, you were saying.” Emily said

“One night, I had this image of you, and you were all grown up, and were strong and smart and decent. And I knew then that you were going to do great things one day.” Mrs. Morgan said, “Thanks, mom.” Ethen said, “But you do know that if you ever touch drugs that your father and I will have to kill you.” She warned, “Uh, got it! Okay.” Ethen replied, “Hey, guys.” Amy said, coming in with Sarah, “oh! Look who’s here.” Mrs. Morgan said, “Hey, I uh brought that book, the one you said you wanted to borrow.” Sarah said, “yeah, the book right.” He replied, “Well, isn’t that nice.” Mrs. Morgan said, “thank you.” Ethen said, “Yeah, the kids can’t wait for you to babysit again.” Mrs. Morgan said, “Mom.” Ethen said, “I guess you made quite the impression.” “Mom.” Ethen said again, “okay, well, I guess I’ll leave you two alone. You know, milk and cookies are in the kitchen, if you feel like okay.” Mrs. Morgan said as she left, “Okay, that was humiliating.” Ethen said, “Sorry we’re late guys. The lady that was helping us was new and didn’t know the layout very well.” Amy explained

‘That’s okay at least you’re here now. Did you see Rory at all?” I asked, “No, I thought he was already here.” Amy replied, “Well, looks like we’ll have to wait a little while longer.” Ethen said, “You feeling okay?” Ethen asked when Sarah sat down, “yeah, I’m just really hungry. I might head into town for a bite.” Sarah said, “Ah. Another rat hunt, heh-heh. I don’t think I can do that.” Ethen said shuddering, “I know right it’s so gross! And the hunger just keeps getting stronger.” Sarah explained, “A fledgling has 28 days to drink human blood, or their mortal body dies.” “Really? Is that true?” Ethen asked, “I’ll know in about a week. But it won’t matter much if we can’t stop Jesse and the others. But we found this book at the library that might help. Believe it or not, not everything is on the net.” Sarah said, “Let’s see, “A History of Whitechapel 1894.” Ethen read they opened the book and Sarah began to read aloud. But as she read, Ethen had another vision.

“The town of Whitechapel was actually once known as Black’s Church, funded in 1809 by Reverend Horace Black.” “Black’s disciples preyed upon the nearby townspeople” “until the night of a lunar eclipse when an angry mob trapped them inside their place of worship and burned it to the ground.” Two hundred and nineteen people died, and their remains buried in an unmarked grave.” Sarah read “the next year, the town was reborn as Whitechapel.” “Wow, angry mob burning a house with vampire’s still trapped inside? Sounds like the Salem Witch Trials.” Emily said, “yeah, but the vampires being accused were actual vampires.” Amy said, “hey, Ethen, are you okay?” I asked when I noticed Ethen was breathing heavy

“What was that? Another vision?” Sarah asked, “Yeah, it just stopped. I feel like somethings missing, there’s more. Something important. I need you to touch me again.” Ethen said, “This had better not be another line.” Sarah said, “Just, Sarah agreed and held Ethen’s hand, causing him to have the vision that blow this case wide open. What did he see you might ask, he saw the final piece of the puzzle and the plot twist we never saw coming. “So? What did you see?” I asked when Ethen’s vision stopped “okay, um. The book left out one huge detail. Reverend Black is Jesse.” Ethen explained, “What?! You’re kidding!” I exclaimed, “no his not, a seers vision is never wrong.” Amy said, “Oh, no, so that’s why 219 is the target.” Sarah said, “And the cublie animus thing is going to help him.” Ethen said, “Oh, no, this is not good.” I said, “So, does that mean we cracked the case?” Mabel asked, “Yes, Mabel we cracked this case wide open, like the nutshell it is. Or was should I say.” Emily replied, please.” Ethen insisted

We were taking this whole thing in when we heard pounding at the window that made us all jump. “Hey, dudes! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, its super, Rory.” He said, flying by Ethen’s widow, “hi, Rory.” I said cheerily coming over to him “well, someone is enjoying his new vampire superpowers.” I said cheerily, “there you are Rory, I was wondering when you would show up.” Emily said, “See, I told you he wouldn’t let us down.” I said but as Rory was about to climb in though Ethen’s window touching the windowsill caused him to burn his hands. “Ow! What the heck?” Rory exclaimed as he fell to the ground causing me to see if he was alright “you were saying.” Emily said, but I just scoffed at her, “you have to be invited in, genius."

Sarah said, “Jesse doesn’t tell us anything. So can I come in?” Rory asked, “Sure you can. Is what I would say if this were my house, but its Ethen’s so he has the say in the matter. Does that count as me inviting him in?” I asked, “I think that counts as you almost inviting him in. So I don’t think it counts.” Emily explained, “So can he come in?” I asked, “Yes, but as long you promise no bloodsucking, okay?” Ethen asked, “Dude. My mouth on your neck? Ugh!” he shuddered

I helped pull Rory though the window, even though we both landed back and face first onto the floor “Rory, we need you to help us figure out what Jesse is planning.” Sarah said “uh, yeah, he’s not a high school kid; he’s a cult leader from over 200 years ago,” Ethen explained “and if-“ “no way! Wait till I tell him!” Rory said causing us to facepalm “Rory! No! He already knows, okay? And it’s not cool.” Ethen explained, “Unless we stop him, a lot of people could die, including us.” “Whoa, stinks not being immortal.” Rory said “his plan has something to do with some prophecy. Maybe you could check his library?” Sarah asked, “Yeah, we need details fast, okay?” Ethen asked, “And find out what the cublie animus thing is for.” “Okay, that was a let-down. It’s just some crusty old box. But Jesse’s happy so.” Rory said shrugging “Ethen! - Dinner in ten minutes!” Mrs. Morgan called out “um, she can’t see you, okay? You gotta go now.” Ethen said pushing Rory to the window

“Ethen?” Mrs. Morgan said, coming into the room, “oh! - I was just leaving; do you need me to babysit on Friday?” Sarah asked, “uh, yeah, sure. That’d be great. Wow, you've got a really strong grip for a little young thing.” Mrs. Morgan said as Sarah pulled her out of Ethen’s room, so she didn’t Rory. Ethen helped Rory get out through the window, but let’s just say Rory was still getting the hang of flying “ah uh ah whoa whoa! Oomph.” Rory exclaimed as he crashed landed ‘Rory, are you okay?!” I asked in concern, “I’m fine!” He replied, “Hold on. I’m coming down.” I said as I was about to fly out the window. “Hey, I can’t fly, remember? I want to see him too.” Mabel said, “You’re right we should probably take the stars. See you tomorrow, Ethen.” I said as we left his room and went down stars where Sarah was getting ready to leave. “Are you girls leaving?” Mrs. Morgan asked, “Um, yeah, we need to get dinner ready for everyone, thanks for letting us come over.” Emily said, “Hey, could I have some of those cookies?” I asked, “Sure, help yourself. It was great having you here.” Mrs. Morgan said, “It was great being here. Um, see you soon.” I said as we went out the door.

I was the first one to get out to see if Rory was okay, he was. He was back on his feet, dusting himself off, “Rory, are you okay?” I asked when I got to him, “Yeah, I’m okay. Just haven’t gotten the hang of flying yet.” Rory said, “hm, hm, you got some leaves and twigs in your hair.” I pointed out, “here, let me help you.” I said, brushing the dirt out of his hair, “hey, you want a cookie?” I asked, giving him one “thanks, I guess flying isn’t as easy as it looks.” Rory said, “You’ll get the hang of it, I remember when I first got my wings. I could barely get a couple inches off the ground.” I reassured him, “really is that true?” Sarah asked, “Yeah, it’s true. When Dakota got her wings, she couldn’t even get off the ground.” Emily said, “But, look at me now. I’m pretty much a pro.” I said doing a summersault in the air. “Maybe one day, I could go flying with you.” I said, “Thanks, guys, that makes me feel much better. What about you, Sarah? Did you have trouble flying to?” Rory asked, “um, about that.” Sarah said, “uh, Rory? Sarah can’t fly.” Mabel said, “Not yet?” He asked, “not at all; she’s a fledging remember? And fledging’s can’t fly. Or at least not until her drinks human blood.” Mabel explained, “And that is something I really don’t want to do.” Sarah said

“Oh, that’s right. Sorry, Sarah, I shouldn’t have asked.” Rory said, “No, no, it’s okay. You wouldn’t have known. Anyway, you girls going home?” Sarah asked, “Yep, we are.” Emily said, “You two want to walk home with us? And Sarah, do need a ride back home or into town?” Emily asked, “No, I’m fine, but I’ll hang out with you guys for a little bit.” Sarah said, “me too. I’ll hang out with you for a little while.” Rory said, “That sounds great. Come on; guys, let’s go home.” I said the evening want by as planned Sarah and Rory hanged out with us for a while and left when dinner was ready. We would have invited them to stay for dinner but vampires don’t need to eat human food anymore, being undead and all spending time with them was a lot of fun and I even almost fell asleep on Rory when I was snuggling with him when we were watching T.V. On Friday morning we walked to school with Ethen, Benny, and Rory. Rory dropped something off at our house that he borrowed from Emily, but we didn’t know what it was. As we walked to school, Rory had to leave our group early to catch up with the other vampires, but we didn’t mind we were happy to have him with us for a short while.

“So, if all goes according to plan, we will finally know what the vampire’s plan of action will be.” I said as we walked into school, “yeah if those vampire’s try to take us down, they’ll have another thing coming.” Emily said, pulling out some kind of gun from her backpack. “Put that away! You know there are no guns allowed at school!” I exclaimed, “Relax, it’s a tranquilizer gun.” Emily said, “A tranquilizer gun? Where did you get that?!” I asked, “It was giving to me for my 16th birthday. I had a cousin that used to serve for the military he gave this to me thinking it could come in handy.” Emily explained, “Though it was probably not his best idea considering he gave his nephew a working grenade, that blow our Ants old house straight out of the ground.” Emily explained, “You know, I never saw pictures of Ant Clara’s old house.” Amy said, “Exactly.” Emily said, “Anyway, this puppy has help me out many times. One time in high school, the school went on lockdown because a tiger escaped from the zoo and got inside the school. Unfortunately for us, the communication systems were down due to the tiger gnawing the wires. I was coming back from a bathroom break when I saw it outside the door to one of the classrooms. So I pulled out this baby and bam! That tiger was out like a light.” Emily explained

“Sure, I got in a little bit of trouble for having a gun on campus, but not as much trouble as the zoo keeper’s assistance for not lucking the tiger cage properly.” She said, “Wow Emily, that’s crazy. Oh, hi, Sarah, how are you feeling?” I asked her, “I’m ok just-“tired?” Cindy asked, “Hungry?” Chloe asked, “Yeah.” Sarah replied, “Here have this.” Amy said, giving Sarah a vile with some red liquid in it “is this blood?” Sarah asked, “I don’t know it looks like blood, but it doesn’t seem to be.” Amy said, “Benny got this from his grandmother, she said it would help, but she didn’t say what it was.” “Thank you so much.” Sarah said as she drank, “uh, oh.” Emily said, “uh, oh? What uh, oh? There shouldn’t be an uh, oh. Oh, no.” I said, noticing Jesse and the other vampire’s coming this way, and to make matters better and worse. (Depending on your point of view.) Erica was with them, but she wasn’t the same girl she was a week ago. Now that Erica is a full-fledged vampire, she was looking pretty hot. Just like Rory, she doesn’t need her glasses anymore, and she was also rocking some new clothes.

“Okay, why are they walking so slowly?” Emily asked, “It’s for dramatic effect, just go with it.” Mabel said, “Well, well, well. If it isn’t Jesse and he’s vampire jerk-tourage.” Emily taunted, “Ok, who came with that? That was a good one.” Sarah laughed, “I know, right.” Emily replied, “hey, Sarah, what’s wrong? You’re looking a little underfed.” Erica said, “What happened to you?” Sarah asked, “You know, like the best thing ever.” She replied, “Wow, Erica, looking good. Looks like Rory’s not the only one that took the vampire makeover package. You pull the look off well.” Emily said, “Thanks, oh by the way. Where’s Dakota?” Erica asked, “Did Rory make her faint again? She really has it bad for that boy.” Erica said giggling, “No, I’m fine, I just like resting on the warp star.” I said hanging upside down “whoa, Erica is that you? Ha, you look beautiful.” I said, “Now you look even cuter because I can see right side up.” I said, getting down, “Sarah, it’s not too late. Join us. And then we can be best friends forever.” Erica said, “Never.” Sarah said, “You’re making the biggest mistake of your life. Well, what’s left of it?” Jesse said, “Yeah, what do you know?” Emily said in Sarah’s defense

“Isn’t that cute. I think she still has a thing for you.” Erica said, “I’ve got something for both of you; it’s wooding and really sharp.” Sarah said, “You tell them, girlfriend.” Mabel said, “Sarah, you’ve been replaced.” Jesse said just as he was about kiss Erica. Or at least that’s what Emily said to me. (Couldn’t tell because Emily was covering my eyes. “Wait? You two are a thing?” Emily asked, “Yeah, I thought for sure she’d end up with Gord.” Mabel said, “Oh! You’re still coming to the Dusk premiere though, right? BFF” Erica asked “you know something I think we are. Erica? Do you still have those tickets you were going to give us?” I asked, “Or did you give them away?”

“You know, I think I have them right here.” Erica said, pulling the tickets from her purse “here you girls go.” “Thanks, Erica, you rock. And this also kind of makes up for you biting the boy of my dreams.” I said, “Yeah, are you mad at me for that?” Erica asked, “Well, normally I would be. But since you made Rory cuter, and you made his life better for him, and I’m not one to hold grudges. I think I’ll let it slid just this one time.” I said, “I messed you, Erica.” I said as she pulled me into a hug, “and Jesse, I never thought I would say this. But you kept your word, thank you for looking out for my friends.” I said, “Does that mean I get a hug too?” He asked, “come here, you.” I said, giving Jesse a hug. “Hey guys we got to go, Ethen just texted me we just got break in the case.” Amy said, “Break in the case.” Mabel repeated “well then what am I doing here? See you guys later.” I said running off with the others to find Ethen and Benny

“Hey, you two.” I said when we found them, “there you are what took you so long?” Ethen asked, “Well, I got good news and bad news.” I said, “What’s going on?” Benny asked, “Well, the good news is Erica’s back.” I said, “Well, that doesn’t sound too bad.” Benny said, “Well, here’s the bad news; she’s on Jesse’s side.” I said, “And, there’s the bad news.” Benny said, “So what’s this big break?” I asked, “This is.” Ethen said, showing us a flash drive “it’s from Rory. I found it in my mailbox this morning.” Ethen said, putting the drive into his computer, “let’s see here.” I said as we came closer “hey guys, can you believe this? All these books and not one decent comic. No “X-Man” not even “The Hulk.” Rory said on the recording “come on, focus, buddy focus.” Ethen said, “Hold on why is Rory showing up on camera? He’s a vampire now; he shouldn’t be showing up.” I pointed out, “that’s just it. I let Rory borrow my camera so he would show up on screen.” Emily explained, “so that what he dropped off this morning. That was smart.” I said

Okay, I think I found what you’re looking for. Check it out: “An angel’s nest shall seed the Earth. Soul for soul the Black’s army’s rebirth. Neath a swallowed moon, the dead take rote. The barren orchard bears the devil’s fruit.” Rory read “whoa, best Metal lyrics ever.” Rory said, singing the poem in a song “ha I am so in love with your friend. He is just so good.” I gushed, “Ugh, I hate poetry! It never makes any sense! What “angel’s nest?” Benny asked “Shh! Cubile animus. Nest of souls, they found it by the angles statue in the cemetery, remember?” Ethen explained, “Oh, seed the Earth?” Benny asked, looking around to make sure he wasn’t heard “the box was buried in the ground like a seed, I guess.” Ethen explained, “Okay, “the black army?” Benny asked “quiet! Easy, it’s Reverend Black’s followers.” Ethen said, “So this is why you always get higher marks-then me in English, huh?” Benny said, “Yeah, that, and I don’t call the teacher fart head to his face.” Ethen said, “Point taking.” Benny replied, “There’s a second video file on the drive.” Benny said

Ethen opened the second file, and it turned out to be the trailer for “Dusk III” “the Dusk trailer?” Emily asked, “Why is that on there?” Benny asked, “Hold on; I think Rory’s on to something.” I said, “Think about it where a good place for Jesse to gather all the souls in one place? And not draw any attention to himself?” I asked, “The Dusk screening!” Mimi said, “What better place for vampires to blend in, then a vampire movie! Well, there goes my movie plans.” Mabel said, “And Erica told us she has over 200 tickets sold for the screening, including ours.” I said, “Wait? What did the poem say about the swallowed moon?” Ethen asked, “I dunno?” Benny replied, “That’s it. Tonight is the lunar eclipse and like Dakota said there’s going to be over 200 kids at that screening.” Ethen said, “two hundred and nineteen souls.” Ethen explained, “No, don’t say it. Do not say it.” Benny pleaded, “Hey, what’d I miss?” Sarah asked, sitting down next to us. “The absolute worst yet.” Benny said, “Well, we have great news, and not so great news.” I said, “What’s the great news.” Sarah asked, “We found out the vampire’s true plan. The not so great news is well; I’ll let Ethen tell you.” I said, “We have to go see Dusk III.” Ethen said, “oh, no.” Sarah said, “This isn’t going end well is it?” Mabel asked, “Oh Mabel, it never ends well.” Chloe replied


	8. Show Down at the Cinema

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They know what the vampires are after, they know what time and place they well strike. Now, all that Ethen and the others need to do is prepare, for the finale showdown.

During the past few days, we have been preparing. Ever since the discovery of the cubile animus, only one thing came to mind when we were walking down the street that day, the girls are back in business. We have also started performing again much to Mimi’s delight, and everyone seems to enjoy it too even Jesse and the others complimented us. Speaking of Jesse, even after everything we’ve been through. Jesse was being very nice to us he even supported and encouraged our performance dreams, now I didn’t know if he was luring us into a false sense of security or because we’re good friends with Sarah, Erica, and Rory but either way I didn’t mind it. This was one thing about Jesse that I found interesting, even though Jesse was a vampire cult leader from over 200 years ago I never found him very threatening. Even when Jesse is being threatening, I was never scared of him.

Even as far as our enemies go, Jesse can be very polite and well-mannered if it wasn’t for the whole vampire cult leader thing I’d considered him a very good friend of ours. But evil or not evil, we had to stop him before it was too late. Throughout Friday morning, we were not only attending classes but also thinking of creative ways to take the vampire’s down. Thanks to the stuff that was delivered earlier in the week, we had plenty of stuff to work with. We even got a few vampire dummies to train with. The first minute we got a break we went outside to set up and train. While Ethen and the others went to get more stuff we had a different approach, we were going to teach my Pikachu hat Electro Ball. You see, Pokémon can only learn four moves at a time, but our hats have an exception depending on the Pokémon it represents it can learn every move the Pokémon can. But teaching my hat the move was no easy feat.

“All right.” Emily said, “Electro Ball attempt take… 37?! It’s taking 36 attempts to get this hat lean the move?!” Emily asked, “Well, to be fair, I did fall down a couple of times.” I said, “So, it’s more like 26 attempts.” “She’s got a point, you know.” Mabel said, “All right, all right, Electro Ball attempt take 27.” Emily said, “All right, here I go Pika-“I said leaping into the air, as I was charging up someone kind of got in the way. “Hey, guys, what’s happening?” Rory said, walking right in front of the dummy, “Rory, look out!” I exclaimed, “Ah! I can’t look.” Mabel exclaimed covering her eyes. Thankfully Erica super speeded in and got Rory out of the way just as I swerved to avoid crashing into him, but I crashed into dummy instead. “Rory! Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to walk in front of a training session?!” Emily scolded, “Sorry, I didn’t know you girls were training.” Rory apologized, “Dakota, are you all right?” he asked, coming over to me, “yeah, I’m fine it’s just like attempt 17.” I said as Rory helped me to my feet, “oh my gosh, I love your hat.” Erica said, “Thanks, it’s my Pikachu hat.” I replied, “Wow, isn’t that the hat you used to take down those vampires last Friday?” Rory asked excitedly

“Yep it sure is, we’re taking those vampires down and hopefully not get bit in the process.” I said, “Cool, what moves are you working on?” Rory asked, “Oh, we're trying to teach the hat Electro Ball.” I explained, “You see this hat can learn every move a Pikachu can, I can learn every move and not have to worry about forgetting any of them. All of our Pokémon hats can. Cool hah?” I explained, “That’s amazing. Is there anything we can do to help?” Erica asked, “Well, there is one thing you can do.” I said, and at that moment Pink Pegasus who disguised herself as a jump rope noticed Rory and Erica and flow right into Rory’s arms knocking him to the ground. I should mention that Sarah and Rory met the Petz Fantasy’s when they hanged out with us on Monday evening and Pink Pegasus took a liking to Rory immediately. We like to joke that she has a crush on him, but the truth is she just felt a close bond with him.

“Well, who’s this? She’s adorable.” Erica said, “This is Pink Pegasus.” I said, “She’s one of the fantasy Petz that hatched recently.” “You remember the eggs in our basement, do you?” I asked, “Oh yeah, I do. So that’s what was inside of them, well Pink Pegasus is very cute.” Erica said, “Ha, ha, ha down girl down ha, ha.” Rory laughed as Pink Pegasus licked his face. “Ok, come here, girl.” Erica said, picking Pink Pegasus up, “thanks, Erica.” Rory said as I helped him to his feet when he got back up Pink Pegasus leaped out of Erica’s arms and perched herself onto Rory’s shoulder and begin to nestle into him. “Aww, she really likes you.” Chloe said, “Aw, she is just so cute.” Erica gushed and hugged Pink Pegasus who was still on Rory’s shoulder, but when Erica realized she was hugging Rory in the process, she quickly backed away. And no Erica does not have a crush on Rory, quite the opposite actually.

“So, anyway anything we can do to help you guys?” Rory asked “well, unless you have a good idea on how to teach this hat Electro Ball. Probably not.” Mimi said, “Let’s see what we can do. Hey, Dakota let me see what you have so far.” Rory said, “all right, here I go. Pika-“I showed Rory what I had so far I had the electric part down, just not the ball part. “Great, another failed attempt.” Emily said, “I’m starting to think we’ll never get this move down.” “I think I have an idea.” Rory said, “You have an idea?” Mabel asked hopeful, “great; we’ll try anything.” Emily said desperately, “yeah, here’s the plain. Dakota focuses all your electricity to your tail and bounce it like you’re juggling a ball.” Rory explained, “That’s so crazy it just might work.” I said, “Do think you can handle it?” Rory asked, “Please, I helped defeat an evil organization, defeated 1000 Heartless all at once, stopped an evil computer program that wanted to eradicate all users, and saved the world countless amount of times.” I explained, “wow, that’s nuts.” Rory said speechless, “yeah, and that was when I was only 6-years old.” I said, “Ok, now you’re just bragging.” Rory playfully teased

I gave Rory a smug sideways glance and began charging up this time focusing all my electricity to my tail. I felt the power building up, and when I started to bounce my tail up and down the Electro Ball formed “I did it, I did it!” I said happily, “Great job, but don’t lose your concentration.” Rory said I refocused my power and tried to move to the vampire dummy, I was afraid of losing the Electro Ball at first but after looking at Rory, Erica, and my friend’s confident faces. It gave me the strength I needed to run to the dummy, jump into the air, and blast the living stuffing out of it! “I did, I did it!” “You did it! Great job, Dakota!” Rory said, hugging me when I ran into his arms even Pink Pegasus did celebratory summersaults in the air while wearing the cheerleader outfit she was in. “thank you so much for your help, Rory.” I said, No big deal anything for a friend.” He said, “You know this kid might not be as useless as I thought.” Emily said, “I was thinking the same thing.” Erica said with a smile just as Ethen, Benny, and Sarah got into view, “hey, we just saw what happened.” Sarah said, “Great job, Dakota.” “Yeah, that hat gets more impressive each time I see it.” Ethen said, “Yeah, it does, but it looks like we need a new training dummy.” Benny said pointing to the pile of ashes all over the grass

“It’s a good thing I brought spares.” Emily said, grabbing another dummy out of her backpack to everyone’s surprise, “okay, seriously?! How much space do you have in that backpack?!” I asked, “You’d be surprised how much stuff I can fit in here. And I will never tell you my backpacking secrets.” Emily replied, “Anyway, great to see you got your hat to work.” Ethen said, “Oh, I don’t deserve all the credit. Rory was the one that helped me.” I said, “Hey, good job, bud, thanks for helping.” Benny said, “No problem I’m happy to help. Hey, can we watch you some more?” Rory asked, “We would love to have you stay, but then we’d have to destroy you.” Emily said, “Emily, we agreed we would spare them.” I said, “Oh come on, you can’t expect them to stay and live to tell the tail. We’re trying to stop the vampire’s not give them the upper hand."Emily said, “You have a point sorry guys maybe some other time.” I said, “Yeah, also it looks like Jesse and the others are looking for you.” Mabel said, pointing to the vampires who were coming this way. “Already? Come on, Rory, we got to go.” Erica said, taking Rory by the arm, “Do we have to?” Rory asked not wanting to leave quite yet, “Don’t worry, Rory, we’ll hang out later, besides I’ll see you at the Dusk premiere.” I said, giving him a hug Pink Pegasus also nuzzled her face up against him.

“Met me by my locker when you get the chance.” I whispered into Rory’s ear, “I love you.” I said, “I love you too.” Rory said as he walked off with Erica, “see you guys later.” Erica said, “Bye, Erica, bye, Rory. See you guys later.” We said, when they got a safe enough distance away from us we went back to our training. Later on in the day, I was waiting by my locker hoping Rory would come by like I asked him to. My plan was to show him the secret room and use it as a quiet place to hang out with him for a while; student traffic was somewhat heavy with kids hurrying to get to class and some to start there break. I worried that opening up the secret room with so many kids walking by would draw attention to us and Emily wasn’t too keen with us showing too many people the room anyway. (It’s called The Secret Room for a reason.) Plus Ethen told me that Rory was known to not keep secrets very well, but I trusted Rory and had a feeling that this was one secret that he could keep. (Especially if he valued his life.) I was starting to think he wasn’t going to show up until.

“Hey Dakota, what’s up.” Rory said, walking up to me, “Rory! You came!” I said excitedly, “Of course I did, what did you think I would leave you hanging?” Rory asked, “Well, no, I just thought that you were a little busy.” I replied, “Well, I did have a little trouble getting away from Jesse. I mean he just talks and talks and- why am I here again?” Rory asked, “You’re here to see me remember.” I said, “Oh right, sorry, so whatcha got in mind?” “Well, I got something to show you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone, ok?” I asked, “Alright, I promise.” Rory said, “I’m serious Rory if you tell anyone, it’s going to cost you. And by that, I mean Emily will come after you.” I said sternly, “Don’t worry, you can trust me.” Rory said with a hint of fear in his voice I knew that would help keep him quiet I looked around and saw that there weren’t as many students as before, so I took it as my chance to show Rory the secret room. “Ok, watch this,” I said, opening up my locker and pushing a button on the shelf, seconds later the locker’s backslid away reviling the entrance to the secret room.

“Welcome to the secret room, bud.” I said, “Wow! That was amazing how did you do that?” Rory asked, “This was all Emily’s doing. I’ll tell you everything I promise, but first, we gotta get inside before someone sees this.” I said, letting Rory go in first before I closed the door, “oh, by the way, watch out for the tripwire.” I said, “What tripwire?” Rory asked, “That tripwire!” I said, just as Rory was about to step on it, “whoa, thanks for the warning.” He said, “Be careful; it’s connected to a bucket of holy water." I said, "Yep, I see it that was a close one.” Rory said, looking up at the bucket, “Hold on did Emily even fill it up? Excuse me.” I said squeezing past Rory to get a closer look at the bucket, “Huh, completely empty; I guess Emily hasn’t gotten around to it yet. But either way, we should still be careful in case the trap needs to be reset.” I said, “Good call, now, can you show me around?” Rory asked excitedly, “sure thing bud, just be careful alright, we have things that can take down vampires I don’t want you getting hurt or worse killed.” I said, “Don’t worry, Dakota, I’ll be careful, I promise.” Rory said, reassuring me and putting his hand on my cheek, “thanks bud come on let me show you around.” I said, taking Rory by the hand and begin to give him a tour.

Meanwhile, Emily was chilling in the hallway and looking for me; I didn’t tell her about my plans, so she had no idea that Rory and I were together in the secret room and our next class was starting in 20-minutes. She was beginning to get worried when Jesse’s friend Gord caught her eye. He was walking down the hallway and seemed to be looking for something as well, Emily took this as her chance to strike up a casual conversation with him before she beat him and all the other vampires mercilessly with her Rainbow Wand later that night. “Hey, Gord.” Emily said as he passed by, “oh hey, Emily, right?” He asked, “Yeah, that’s right; it’s nice of you to remember me.” Emily said, “I remembered all of you; I just can’t tell who’s who yet.” Gord said, “Don’t worry, we get that a lot you’ll figure it out sooner or later. Here’s a hint: clothes and eye color good way to tell us apart. So anyway I know I’m going to regret asking this later but, have you seen Dakota anywhere?” Emily asked, “No, not recently, but while we’re on the topic, have you seen your blond friend anywhere?” Gord asked, “Who, Erica?” Emily asked, “no, those two geeks friend.” Gord replied, “Oh, you mean Rory.” Emily said, “Yes, Rory, that’s the one.” Gord said, “No sorry haven’t seen him anywhere. But this could a good sign.” Emily said

“Really, how so?” Gord asked, “Well if you can’t find Rory, and I can’t find Dakota then that must mean they're together. There probably hanging out in the secret room.” Emily said, “Wait, you have a secret room?” Gord asked, “Yeah, long story. I’ll tell you later. But it looks like there are too many students by the lockers so looks like we got to hang tight for a moment. Apple juice I’d offer something else, but I snagged these from the cafeteria.” Emily said, handing him one.

“Thanks, you know Dakota’s got it pretty bad for that Rory kid huh?” Gord said, “No kidding, she is losing her mind over that kid. But I mean Rory’s a good guy and better him then one of those toxic popular kids, and as much as I hate to admit it he is really cute, even for a vampire nerd he is pretty good looking.” Emily said, “Yeah, he is pretty sweet, but he is also kind of annoying.” “Sweet but annoying that is exactly how Ethen and Benny describe him. Anyway speaking of people, we admire, whatever happened between you and Erica you seemed like you were interested in her?” Emily asked, “Yeah, well after she became a full vampire Jessie began showing interest in her, so I decided to back off.” Gord explained, “But we’re still good friends.” “Man that’s tough, I know how it feels to want to love someone but you can’t. I speak from experience, but hey at least you’re still brother and sister in that whole vampire family way.” Emily said

“Hey that’s right you seem to know a thing about vampires.” Gord said, “Well, hang around vampire fans for a while, and you pick a few things up.” Emily said Emily and Gord continued to talk for a little while longer while they waited for the hall-way to clear up as they were Rory and I were also chatting away in the secret room. We decided to organize the stuff that we had stored, I was putting some books on a shelf while Rory was stacking some boxes with some anti-vampire stuff in them I asked him to let me handle the stuff, but he insisted, so I reluctantly agreed. “Hey, Rory? Is it weird to call a boy beautiful?” I asked, “Depends on who you’re talking about why.” Rory said, looking at me with a puzzled expression. “Because I think you’re beautiful,” I said making Rory blush

“You know we should head to class soon we don’t want to be late.” Rory said, “Hmm, we got 15 minutes left. We could probably stay a little longer.” I said, “Hey, by the way, thanks for the help we really do appreciate it.” I said, “Hey, it’s no big deal, like I said before anything for a friend, especially for the one who has a crush on me.” Rory said, looking me in the eyes, “hey, don’t forget Mabel has a crush on you too. But thanks.” I said, “You know I didn’t think you would want to hang out with me now that I’m a smoking hot bloodsucking Bad boy.” Rory said, causing me to snuffle my laughter, “oh yeah, yeah lucky for you; I have a soft spot for bad boys.” I teased, but I really didn’t I was just playing along “hey, you have to go to that Dusk screening tonight right?” I asked, “Yeah I do, I don’t want to, but Jesse said I can have as much Ducker blood as I want, so that’s kind of better.” Rory said

“Well, I was wondering if maybe Mabel and I could sit next to you I mean we have to go too, so if things get a little hectic do you think you could help us out.” I asked, “That depends what’s in it for me?” Rory asked, “Well, your life we’ll spear you also I might, and I mean might consider going out to dinner with you.” I said, “Alright, I’m in.” Rory said, “Here if you’re helping us out you’re going need this.” I said, reaching into my backpack and pulling out a hat and sword, “what’s this a Kirby cosplay?” Rory asked when he said it; I realized I never showed him our copy ability hats “here put it on.” I said, putting the hat on Rory’s head when I did the sword changed from a toy plastic one to a shiny real one. Rory couldn’t believe his eyes. “See, just like my Pikachu hat, we have real copy ability hats too. We have the same hats Kirby does.” I explained, “Wow, this-this is amazing, Dakota; you have got to be the coolest girl I have ever met.” Rory said, “Aw shucks, thanks Rory; we get that a lot.” I said blushing, “but you have to promise me you can’t tell anyone, don’t even show them this. I showed Erica the hats, and if she sees it she’ll immediately recognize it, and Jesse will think you’re trying to betray him. And I don’t want you getting hurt, just promise me you won’t tell anyone.” I said, “Don’t worry Dakota, I won’t.” Rory said, lifting my head to look into his trusting eyes. “Pinky promise?” I asked, holding out my pinky “Pinky promise.” Rory replied as we joined pinkies when we did I pulled him closer and kissed him on the cheek.

“Hey Dakota just in case I get lost in the chaos I apologize in advance if I end up biting you.” Rory said, “If I scare you, you should run.” “Aw that’s cute, you think I would run. Trust me, Rory, there is nothing I would want more than to have your perfect little fangs lodged right into my neck.” I said, coming closer to him when I did Rory’s face turned red, and he looked concerned. “Sorry, Rory I don’t know what came over me just then.” I said snapping out it, “I’ll tell you what just happen, I think you’ve been hanging around Mabel and Erica for too long.” Rory said still a little shaken “well, to be honest, I always thought that if I were to become a vampire, I would want you to bite me.” I said, “Really you do? Well, maybe when you get older and if we start dating maybe I could have the honor of taking a bite out if you.” Rory said, “well I do have a strong love toward you, so in a way, my blood practically has your name on it.” I said as Rory pulled me closer to him (no, he was not going to Bite Me.)

“You know, the theater is serving popcorn with garlic butter tonight we’re only supposed to get one per worker, but I could probably snag a few more.” Rory said, “Whoa Rory, mother warned me about boys like you.” I said, bringing myself closer to him to the point where our noses touched. We were enjoying the moment when “ah huh, caught ya both red-handed.” Emily said with Gord by her side, “Emily, Gord.” We said, pulling away from each other and feeling a little embarrassed “watch out for the tripwire.” Emily warned, “Thanks for the heads up.” Gord said, stepping over the tripwire and ducking under the bucket, “you don’t have to be too careful the buckets’ empty.” I said, “I know I just don’t want to set it back up.” Emily said, “come on you two love time’s over we have 5 minutes till class, and we have to do some last minute preparation.” She said, “She’s right come on; let’s go.” I said, “Alright, I’ll come with you guys, and how about after school, I take up your dinner offer.” Rory said, “Sure, I would love that.” I said blushing, “great; I’ll pick you up at six. I’d pick you up at seven, but the screening starts at nine.” Rory said as we left the secret room.

“What was that about?” Emily asked when we went our separate ways “I just scored a date with a vampire.” I said proudly. After school, all of us started to collect things around town fence posts, more holy-water, and of course, the stuff that we already had. Training for the rest of the day wasn’t easy.

On the one hand, Emily, Amy, Cindy, Chloe, Mimi, and I have been kicking but since I was five and Mimi has been with us for a year now but. Ethen, Benny, and Mabel aren’t as experienced as us, and without the added know how that we had from our adventures, Ethen and Benny were at a disadvantage. But training with the vampire dummies did help them a lot; when we went back home, we devised a plan: At around 6:00 Rory would pick me up for dinner and have me back at Ethen’s house at around seven, after that, we would finish preparing. When Sarah got there, and Ethen and Jane’s parents left for their date night, we would call Benny’s Grandmother to look after Jane until we get back. We leave at 8:30 and hopefully get to the screening before 9:00 after that everything is self-explanatory. We stop Jesse before he gets his target and uses his old flock to wreak havoc on the town (you know garden variety cliché bad guy stuff.

“Alright, guys I got some. I went to five Doller Store’s, Three Walmart’s, and two Toys are us’s, but I managed to get five super squirters.” Amy said, holding a bag of water guns “seriously, just five, I think we’ll need more than that.” I said, “Sorry, it’s all I could find with summer coming to an end there all sold out.” Amy said, “Hey, guys look what I found.” Emily said, holding a bag with water guns way more than Amy got. “Woah, where did you get those?” Cindy asked, “At Rory’s house turns out this stuff hasn’t been used in years there in good shape too, oh, by the way, Dakota Rory’s picking you up in a helve an hour.” Emily said, “Thanks, Emily, hey Mabel you sure you don’t mind me going without you? I’m sure Rory wouldn’t mind your company.” I said, “Nah, it's fine someone needs to stay and help the others, besides this is your date with Rory. I don’t want to feel like a third wheel.” Mabel said to my surprise. Mabel loved Rory almost as much as I did, and now that he was a vampire she was even more attracted to him, but it was nice of her to let Rory, and I spend the evening alone together. “Thank you, Mabel; I’ll be sure to put in some good words for you.” I said, “Really, you’ll do that?” Mabel asked excitedly, “Anything for you, girlfriend.” I replied, I loved Rory, but I didn’t want him all for myself (mostly because Emily would never allow it.)

“Alright guys so we know what to do, Rory’s coming to pick Dakota up for their quote on quote date in a helve an hour we’ll meet at Ethen’s place at 7:30 at 8:30 we’ll leave everyone got that?” Emily asked, “Yep.” We all said, “Great, come on; let’s relax for a while.” Mimi said, and we went inside. A helve hour later Rory came and picked me up for our date, the details don’t matter, but I will tell you I had the time of my life being with him. The more I hang out with Rory, the more I feel like he is a true friend to me after dinner Rory was kind enough to once again walk me back to Ethen’s house we had a pretty good conversation too. When we made it back to Ethen’s house, I gave Rory a hug goodbye and knew we would see each other at the Dusk screening later “bye Rory see you in a few hours.” I said, “Bye, Dakota, say hi to the others for me, love you to pieces.” Rory replied when I got inside; I saw Mimi and Jane playing together Mimi was showing Jane some of our dance moves. “Hey, guys.” I said, “Oh, good, you’re here. Emily was starting to get worried.” Mimi said, “Did you have fun with Rory?” She asked, “Yeah I did, so anyway uh where’s Mr. and Mrs. Morgan?” I asked, “Upstairs getting ready for their night out.” Jane said, “Ethan and the others are in his room, their wanting for you.” Mimi said, “Thanks, Mimi.” I said, “Oh, by the way, Sarah will be here in ten to fifteen minutes.” Mimi said, “Thanks for the heads up.” I said as I went upstairs.

“Hey, Jane? Want to go for another round best two out of three winner takes all.” Mimi said, “You’re on, but I don’t have anything to give to you if you win.” Jane said, “how about bragging rights for the whole week.” Mimi suggested, “Deal, I’m going to make you eat my dance moves.” Jane said, and they started their game when I got upstairs I knocked on Ethen’s bedroom door and went inside “Oh, there you are Dakota. I was wondering when you would show up.” Emily said, “You know for a little while, I thought Rory decided to run away with you.” Ethen teased, “Ha ha very funny Ethen, anyway how are things going here?” I asked, “Almost down packing and Benny and his Grandma are coming over when Ethen’s parents leave.” Cindy said, “That’s perfect if things go off without a hitch, those vampires are going to get a one-way ticket to the underworld. Or wherever vampires go when they die.” I said, “Hey, Ethen, whatcha doing?” Jane asked as she came in with Mimi, “Jane, you ever hear of privacy.” Ethen said, “Sorry guys but curiosity got the better of us.” Mimi said, “What did you do to your blaster?” Jane asked, seeing the stuff on Ethen’s bed, “what?” She said getting a closer look “just put them down ok? It’s for a school project.” Ethen said, “Look, you know how this works: Either you tell me, or I tell mom everything that happened last week.” Jane said, “If you do, you might want to leave out the fact that the pizza guy that attacked us was a real vampire. Then they’ll think you’re nuts.” Emily said, “I’ll keep that in mind.” Jane said “

“Oh, fine!” Ethen caved, “Benny and I are going to that new vampire movie thing tonight. And no, you can’t go, it’s after your bedtime- and its rated PG.” Ethen explained, “That’s right girlfriend, we’re taking those vampire down by the core. It’s hasta la vista Fangy.” Emily said, putting a mask down and clicking her blaster trigger. “You’re always weirder then I remembered.” Jane said, “Trust me, she gets that a lot.” Amy said, “So you’re going to leave me with Benny’s Grandma again? No way!” Jane said, “Come on, Jane work with me here.” Ethen said, “Yeah, please, it’s a matter of life or death.” Emily said, “Emily shh, you’ll scare her.” I said, “No, I won’t, the secrets out she already knows about Sarah there’s no harm in her knowing about Erica and Rory as well.” Emily said, “Wait, Rory’s a vampire now too?” Jane asked, “That explains a few things.” “See? As long as you keep this between us, we’re fine.” Emily said, “Hey, guys Sarah’s here.” Mrs. Morgan said, coming into the room. “Wow, Mommy you look so pretty.” Jane said, “Thank you, sweetie. Is this a school project?” Mrs. Morgan asked, “Uh yeah, yep.” Ethen said, “Ok.” Mrs. Morgan said as she left. “I’m listening make this good.” Jane said, “Uh, dishes for a month, uh I’ll do your Math homework, and I’ll play Dance Dance Revolution with you.” Ethen said, “Wow, this must be serious.” Jane said, “You have no idea.” Ethen said, “Like I said before, girl. It’s a matter of life or death, and I’ll shut up now.” Emily said, “So deal?” Ethen said, “Deal, plus 20 dollars.” Jane said, “What?” Ethen said, “MOM!” Jane yelled, “Ok, ok, fine, wow, you are devious.” Ethen said, giving Jane her hush money, “dad says I’m enterprising. Wait, mom, I want a kiss good night.” Jane said as she left.

“Mental note: never underestimate vampires or eight-year-old girls.” Ethen said, “That’s a good note.” Chloe said, “Alright, let’s go over the things we have. We got: The spear ability, the fire hat, the water hat now filled with holy water, Dakota’s Pikachu hat, and wait where’s the sword hat?” Emily asked, “Oh, yeah, I gave it to Rory.” I said, “Wait? Rory and a sword that is not a good combination.” Ethen said, “come on, he wanted to help besides he might surprise you.” I said, “You know Dakota, I think you’re putting in a little too much trust into Rory these days.” Ethen said, “Come on guys we better hurry if we’re going to make it in time” Sarah called out. “Look we don’t have time to argue, the movie starts at nine, the eclipse will be complete by ten if we can stop Jesse or at least make him miss his target we’ll be golden. Now come on, we got some vampires to take down.” I said as everyone went downstairs to greet Benny and Mrs. Weir. “Hey, guys you ready for this.” Benny asked, “Oh, I have been waiting my whole life for this.” Mabel said, “Hey, Jane, we’ll be back soon, ok.” Ethen said, “If we don’t get sucked dry.” Benny said, “What?!” Jane exclaimed, “Nothing, Benny’s just hoping he doesn’t cry during the movie because he’s a wuss.” Sarah said, “Nice anyway. See you, Grandma.” Benny said, “Oh wait, I have something for you, boys.” Mrs. Weir said.

“No, Grandma we’ve really have to go. Uh, I already ate, I don’t really don’t think we need any decorative knives.” Benny said when his Grandma showed us three daggers. “If you’re going to be battling the bloodsuckers, you’re gonna need these.” Mrs. Weir said, “Whoa,” Ethen said, “Wh where’d you where’d you get those?” Benny asked, “Spend almost a century in this town, and you pick up a few things.” Mrs. Weir said, “Oh, and this now, I bookmarked a few spells for you. But be careful! They don’t always do what you want them to do if you haven’t practiced.” Mrs. Weir said, “Are you a witch?” Jane asked, “Oh, goodness no! Not a witch, honey; I’m an earth priestess very different and much more fun” Mrs. Weir explained casting a spell on Jane’s bunny drawing making the bunny dance, leaving us in awe. “Benny’s Grandma Rocks,” Jane said,

“So you’re uh HOW?!” Benny asked, awe struck, “Well, I didn’t want to tell you before you were ready. I thought it might freak you out.” Mrs. Weir explained, “But there’s a reason you get drawn to the unexplained. You have the makings of a first-rate spell master. And Ethen is a seer that’s his path.” She said, “I’m a spell, master.” Benny said excitedly, “Wait what a seer how did she-“Well, you get visions, don’t you? They're supposed to start around puberty.” “Grandma!” Benny exclaimed “Ok fine.” Mrs. Weir said, “Hold on, you’re an Earth priestess?” Emily asked, “Where were you when we were attacked by that vampire pizza delivery guy last week?!” She exclaimed, “Well when you haven’t danced in 20 years it tends to tire you out. Here take my keys and remember: Evil is always at a disadvantage. The Earth is good you’re fighting on the right side.” Mrs. Weir said, “I just wish our friend Erica felt the same way.” I said, “Well on the bright side, at least Rory’s on our side.” Mabel pointed out, “yeah, that is a good thing.” Chloe said,

“Alright, shall we.” Benny asked, “We shall.” Mimi said ready for action, “and if you scratch my car, I’ll turn you into a toad.” Mrs. Weir warned, “Uh, heh-heh. We’ll be careful.” I said as my friends, and I went out the door ready to take on our biggest challenge yet.


	9. Jesse’s Downfall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all comes down to this. Humans vs vampires who will win. (Well, the humans of course.) With Rory and magic on there side how could anything possibly go wrong. Well anything apparently.

“Come on Mabe’s we have to go now, or we’ll be late,” I said when Mabel remembered she wanted to give Jane something. “Ok, I’m coming, just give me a minute.” She said, “This is for the vampires.” Mabel said, giving Jane a wooding stake, “thanks.” Jane replied, “And this is in case you see a Dusk fan.” Mabel said giving Jane fake vampire fangs “uh, thanks?” Jane said, “Better safe than sorry. “ Mabel said as she ran out the door to catch up to us. “Ok, we know the drill: Amy is with Ethen, Benny, and Sarah in Grandma Weir’s car. While the rest of us are on our warp stars.” Chloe said, “Alright, let’s go.” Ethen said as we all got settled, and we drove and flow off. As we were driving Ethen filled Sarah in on what we found thanks to Rory. “So, I think the cudile animus works as a kind of soul vacuum, Jesse will try to capture 219 souls tonight. Then, I don’t know, somehow trade them to bring back all his followers.” Ethen explained, “Ugh, soul for soul it’s so evil! I can’t believe my first kiss was with him.” Sarah said, “He was your first kiss? But your 17 I mean you’re so pretty, I mean.” Ethen stuttered, “I think what Ethen means to say is that you deserve someone way better.” Emily said, “Huh, I think that is what I mean.” Ethen said, “Well, I don’t know I guess I just wanted my first kiss to be memorable.” Sarah said,

“Mission accomplished, huh?” Ethen said, “Grandma failed to mention that this book isn’t even in English.” Benny said, “Hey, Amy, what do you make of it?” I asked, “From what I can gather; it’s a mixture of old English and Latin, even with my extensive vocabulary skills, I can’t pronounce half this stuff.” Amy explained, “So while we’re on the topic, what vampires do we spear?” Mabel asked, “None of them! Kill them kill them with fire! Ah ha ha ha ha!” Emily exclaimed laughing like a mad-man (or girl in this case.) “Hey what about Rory and Erica? Their our friends.” I said, “oh yeah, we can spear them.” Emily said, “Well here are, you girls might want to brace yourselves.” Ethen said as we were coming up to the theater. “This is it. Erica and I waited a whole year for this advanced screening.” Sarah said, “Wow, that’s lame.” Benny remarked, “Just read your magic book dork.” Sarah replied, “Trust me, girlfriend, I’ve seen both the movies you’re not missing much.” Emily said, “Though I will admit, the Dusk saga is a better love story than Twilight.” “Emily! Any love story is a better love story than Twilight! Now those are a bunch of garbage vampire movies.” Mabel exclaimed, “Though, the books weren’t half bad.”

“The bouncer looks like one of them.” Ethen remarked, “You think he recognizes us?” Ethen asked, “It's ok; I think I know another way in.” Sarah said, and she took us to the side ally-way, where we sew a back door. Ethen tried to open it but was unsuccessful “it’s locked tight.” Ethen said, “Here, allow me.” Sarah said, pulling Ethen aside, “Ok.” He said as she opened the door with ease “Wow, that vampire super strength is powerful.” I said as we went inside, “let’s get this party started.” Sarah said, “Hey guys, if I’m reading this correctly, apparently there’s a spell here that just makes all the vampires just vanish.” Benny said, “Ha, ha perfect.” Ethen said, and Benny began to read. But let’s just say it didn’t go the way we planned. Now I know what you’re thinking books like these are meant to have what Benny said written down and you’d be right. But the thing is, these spells actually work and they're not meant to be used by armatures you could make your bed disappear, your bedside table disappear, or the laptop you’re using to read this story disappear, or like Benny who made his entire spellbook disappear. “Ugh.” “Oh, come on.” We all groaned, “Yeah, we should have seen that coming.” Cindy said,

“Well, looks like we’re back at plan A.” Emily said, “What’s plan A?” I asked, “Our original plan, here’s the deal: Esamenda and Lizzy you two go with Sarah and spy on the vampires, Amy, Cindy and Chloe you guys go with Ethen and install the holy water to the sprinkler system, Mimi you’re with Benny, and I were keeping an eye on things in the lobby, Mabel and Dakota you take your seats with Rory and do damage control. If Jesse gets any souls let us know immediately. And make sure Rory doesn’t hurt himself with the sword hat.” Emily explained, Emily, you do know that anyone with a Kirby ability is automatically a pro right? And Rory’s a vampire he can heal himself.” Amy said, “Yeah, I know, I just don’t feel like cleaning vampire blood off the sword.” Emily said, “Alright, everyone ready? It’s now or never.” I said, “Well, we came this far. Let’s do this.” Mimi said, “Alright, hands in.” Emily said as we all put our hands in a cercal “1, 2, 3 go team!” We all cheered, “come on, guys, let’s do this.” I said, and we all split up. 

“It’s finally time to avenge our ancestors.” Jesse said, but unknown to him Sarah, Esamanda, and Lizzy were listening to them “This is so boring, when can I get some Dusker blood? I’m starving.” Erica said, Patience, hm? Souls first blood later.” Jesse said, “Our 219 guests are here. You know what to do.” Jesse said, dismissing all his friends “this is not good, we’re gonna die.” Esamanda whispered, “We have to warn the others fast.” Lizzy whispered as they fled the scene.

Meanwhile, Ethen, Cindy, Chloe, and Amy were sneaking into the utility room. “Alright, here’s the plan.” Ethen said, “Amy and I will sneak in and install the holy water, you two stand guard.” He said, “Roger that, we hear you loud and clear.” Chloe said, “Great, we’ll text everyone when we’re down.” Amy said, and they went inside.

“I mean seriously; I still can’t believe Jesse’s a bad guy when we first met him I thought he was a pretty nice guy. Well, this was before he started to give strange vibes.” Emily said, “I thought the whole bad boy act was just that, an act.” She said, “Wow, you think you know someone.” Benny said, “Tonight only: popcorn with extra garlic butter.” A woman on the PA system said, “Oh, we will be sure to take advantage of that.” Mimi said, “Hey, Can I get you guys something?” A girl who was in charge of the popcorn canter asked, “No, I, uh meh a bag.” Benny said, “Get me an extra-large jumbo bucket of popcorn with extra salt, extra butter, and extra popcorn. Life’s short right?” Benny said just as he got a text from Ethen that read: Holy water patched in, plan B ready. “And I’ll have a bag of Sour Patch Kids and a medium-sized popcorn extra garlic butter.” Emily said, “Here put it on my card.” She said, handing the girl her credit card, “thank you, Emily.” The girl said, giving Emily her card back. “No problem Della.” Emily replied, “Wait, you know her?” Benny asked, “Yeah, kind of, she’s in a couple of our classes. I could probably set you two up; I think she’ll like you.” Emily said, looks like everything’s ready to go all we need to do now is wait for the show to begin. Mimi said,

As the others were waiting for the chaos to begin Mabel, and I went to take our seats next to Rory, “please don’t notice us, please don’t notice us.” I pleaded when I saw Jesse talking to Erica by the door. “Oh, Dakota, Mabel I was wondering when you two would show up.” Jesse said with Erica by his side, “and he noticed us.” Mabel said, “Look, you probably don’t want us more than we want to see you if you could just show us where Rory is we’ll be out of your way.” I said, “Don’t worry. Rory told us you would be here follow me. I’ll take you to your seats.” Erica said, taking me by my hand, “you girls ready for this?” Erica asked, knowing we were in for the time of our lives “trust me, girlfriend, this is going to be the most fun I had since defeating Organization 13.” I said, twirling my rainbow wand around my finger. “Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said you’ve been through a lot.” Mabel said in awe, “Hey, you two over here.” Rory said, showing himself, “there’s our vampire.” I said, going to him. ”Thanks, Erica, love you.” Mabel said as she followed, “Hey, good to see you girls made it.” Rory said as we sat down “wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Mabel said, “Hey, do you still have the sword?” I asked, “Right there.” Rory said, kicking his backpack lightly under his chair “Here you might want this.” Rory said, opening his backpack and giving us some cups of popcorn that were covered with a drink lid. “Thanks, Rory.” I said, “I did say I could snag a few.” He said, “Thanks, Rory, you’re the best.” Mabel said, “Things are going to get crazy pretty fast; you two know what to do.” I said, “You bet we do.” They said, “Shh, It’s starting.” Mabel said excitedly as the room went dark 

“Welcome to the special fan screening of Dusk III: Unbitten.” Erica said over a cheering crowd “when you see what’s in store for you tonight, well, you’ll just die.” She said, “This is not good.” Lizzy said as she alongside Esamanda, and Sarah continued to listen, “but, first let’s not forget the door prize.” Erica said, reaching into a bag, “and we have a winner. Ticket number 205.” Erica read, “Oh, that’s me; that’s me.” A girl said getting on stage to clam her prize, “what did I win?” She asked, “You win what every Dusker wants, this.” Jesse said just as he was about to bite the girl horrifying all of us. “Oh, snap.” Mabel, Rory, and I exclaimed, “Wow, all they did at the Dusk II screening was give out T-shirts.” A girl said, passing by Ethen, Amy, Cindy, and Chloe. “One down; 218 to go.” Jesse said as he got his first soul, “Hey, are you two thinking what I’m thinking?” Rory asked, “You’re thinking about helping us take these vampires down.” I said, “No, I was thinking about getting out of here before things get real ugly. You two want to go grab some ice-cream or something?” Rory asked, “Oh yeah, totally.” I said, “Yeah, I’m sure the others can handle this without us.” Mabel said as we got up. “Great, let’s go,” Rory said, walking with us. “You do realize none of us can leave right?” I asked, “Yeah, I had a feeling.” Mabel said, “Hey, you can’t blame a guy for trying.” Rory said,

“Fire!” Ethen called out.” “Come on, fire!” Ethen called out again, “Stay in your seats; there’s no need to panic.” Jesse said just as my Electro Ball missed him. “What you missed.” Rory said, “Oh that was just a warning shot.” I said, “Get them!” Jesse said, after that, all hell broke loose. “Come on, Mabel let’s go,” I said, taking her by the hand. “If anything happens to us avenge our deaths!” Mabel called out to Rory as we ran through the chaos “Hey! Wait for me.” Rory said, grabbing his backpack and my sword hat.

“Is everyone alright?” I asked, “Yeah, we’re fine.” Amy said, “Where’s Emily?” I asked, “Her and Benny are with the vampires in the lobby.” Mimi said, “Alright, what’s the plan?” Mabel asked, “Uh.” Ethen and I said. “You don’t have a plan.” Rory and Mabel shouted, “Hey, we make this up as we go along. But here’s a rundown: our top priority is to stop Jesse and get the cubile animus we also need to protect everyone else. Deal with the vampires any way posable just leave Rory and Erica alone, mostly Rory if Erica does attack don’t hurt her just subdue her we’ll deal with her later. Everyone goes in groups of two or three don’t go alone they’ll overpower you.” I explained, “We got it.” they said, “Also, you might need this.” I said, giving everyone the popcorn Rory gave me and Mabel “popcorn?” Mimi asked, “With extra garlic butter!” Chloe said, “We can use this on the vampires, thanks, Dakota.” Amy said,” “Oh, don’t thank me, thank Rory, everyone ready?” I asked, to that everyone nodded “ready set attack!” I yelled as everyone split up. 

“Come on you vampires you ready to die twice!” Mabel said armed with the water hat (now filled with holy water.) “Hi-yea! Take this!” I said destroying some vampires “ow! My eye.” A vampire said as Ethen shot him “sorry dude, I’m new at this.” Ethen said as he destroyed him, “whoa, that was seriously whoa.” Ethen said as someone knocked him over “of all the crazy things we’ve dealt with, this is indeed the craziest! Take this.” Emily shouted, taking one of the vampires out, “plug me in!” Benny said to Della as he was keeping the vampires away, “ha ha ha much better than batteries.” Benny said helping Emily take the vampire out with the sun-saber “this is the coolest thing ever!” Emily exclaimed, “Use the force” vintage Star Wars T-shirt that is so hot.” Benny said, kissing Della on the lips “whoa, wasn’t expecting that.” Emily said, taking a photo with her camera phone, “Keep that shot anything with fangs.” Benny said as he and Emily left to give us a hand. Inside the screening room was chaos Amy and Ethen was on one team Mable, Rory, and myself on another Cindy, Chloe and Mimi were trying to help as many attendees as posable, “Esamanda, and Lizzy were aiding Sarah. And Benny and Emily were trying to break through to help us when out of the corner of his eye Rory saw one of the vampires trying to sneak attack while Benny’s back was turned.

“Not on my watch, you don’t.” Rory said to himself as he used his super speed to aid his friends, “grrr heh, Benny behind you.” Emily gasped seeing the vampire behind Benny it would have been too late for Benny to do something if it wasn’t for Rory slicing the vampire with the sword as Emily pulled Benny out of the way. “Huh, Rory?” Emily said in disbelief, “you-you saved us. Thanks, Rory.” Emily said still in shock that Rory was holding out so well “no problem look we have to stop this.” Rory said, “He’s right, which is weird.” Benny said, “Hey, I have my moments.” Rory said, “Now’s not the time to talk about how right and weird Rory is but he’s right we need to stop Jesse before he uses the lunar eclipse to resurrect his flock.” Emily said, “Rory, Keep helping Dakota and Mabel while Benny and I help the others.” She said, “Great, let’s go.” Rory said, “Alright, you vampires you ready to die twice.” Emily said, “Wait, didn’t Mabel already use that line?” Rory asked, “Yeah, well I wanted to use it too. Now let’s move.” She said as the threesome started attacking 

Amy and Ethen were ducking behind the chairs, “don’t worry, I’ll cover you.” Amy said as Ethen was grabbing the dagger from his shoe and jumping out in the open “what a knife big fracking deal.” A vampire said, “Fracking? Heh heh, you a Galactica fan?” Ethen asked, “Season three’s the bomb, man.” The vampire said, “No season four is the bomb, and this is no knife; it’s a dagger.” Ethen said slicing the vampire with it “haha thank you Benny’s grandma.” Ethen said, “Wow, taking a vampire out because of a TV show opinion. I can relate to that.” Amy said, “No, kidding, I lost five friends because of that.” Ethen said, “Really?” Amy asked, “N-no, no, not really.” He said, “Lucky you, take it from me. It sucks.” Amy said as they continued to fight in the chaos

“Ethen hey!” Rory said, fighting his own battle with me and Mable “Hey! Whoa! Watch the jacket.” He said as Ethen swings at one of the vampires, “Sorry.” Ethen said, “Shouldn’t you be going after Jesse and his, uh box thing?” Rory asked, “I’m trying, a little busy here.” Ethen said, taking a vampire out with the holy water gun. “Sweet!” Rory said, “Now go, and Ror lay off the humans.” Ethen said, “I’ll quit, I swear, do you think they make a patch for vampires?” Rory asked, “no whoa.” Ethen replied when Rory hissed at him in an attempt to scare him “Gotcha.” Rory said, “This is getting out of hand.” Amy said, “Yeah, and I think my hat is running out of water.” Mabel said, “Mabel that hat never runs out of water, at least not that I’m aware of.” I said, “Looks like it’s time for plan B.” Ethen said,

“Plan B? But what about Sarah, Rory, and Erica?” I asked, “Don’t worry; I’ll take Rory; you guys get Erica.” Emily said, “Come on, Rory, we have to get everyone else out of here we need to make an opening.” She said, “I’m on it. See you guys soon.” Rory said, running off with Emily, “Bye, Rory.” Mabel and I said when I noticed Sarah taking out some vampires and Erica was coming up to her. “That’s not a nice way to treat your family.” Erica said, “This will never be my family, don’t you realize this is wrong?” Sarah said, “This is not who you’re supposed to be!” “This is who I wanted to be.” Erica said, “My whole life I have been pushed around, bullied, laughed at. Never again.” Erica said making me feel pretty bad for her “aw, I’m sorry Erica do you need a hug.” I offered, “I really don’t want to hurt you, Sarah, but you leave no choice.” Erica said as she attacked us. I was about to jump in and defend Sarah, but I decided to stay out of it. I’m not giving up on you.” Sarah said, tying her up, “hey, let her go!” Gord said, “Oh no, not you.” I said, “Over my dead body.” Sarah said, “More like over your undead body. And I’ll shut up now.” I said just as he cornered us, “She’s all yours, honey.” Erica said, “heh heh, see you at school, hopefully.” I said as Erica left.

As Erica was leaving, she was feeling pretty accomplished of herself for everything she did. But that feeling was short lived. When she got into the lobby she saw something that stopped her dead in her tracks. What she saw was Emily and Rory and a group of vampires had them cornered they were both tired from fighting so much, and the vampires were closing in around them that was when Erica knew she had to do something or her friends were (or at least one of them,) was dinner. And she knew just what to do “hold your ground Rory if we die we die with honor.” Emily said, “But Emily, aren’t you already dead?” Rory asked, “Yeah, but so are you. Technically speaking.” She said, “But if we do die, they’ll remember me as the one who helped save the town from bloodthirsty vampires.” Emily said, “And me?” Rory asked, “Nah, I’m sure you’ll end up on someone's blog.” She said,

“Come on guys we can work this out; we’re all friends here.” Rory said, “Please friends.” A vampire scuffed, “You have a lot a nerve to betray your own kind.” He said, “Jesse’s right, you’re no better than the fledgling.” Another vampire said, “Normally vampires don’t attack their own kind, but you started it, and Jesse doesn’t take kindly to traitors.” A vampire said, “Hey, leave them alone.” Erica said, “Sarah and her friends are cornered take them down and round up the last of the Duskers.” Erica ordered, “I’ll deal with the traitor.” She said,

“Erica think about what you’re doing.” Emily said, not wanting to hurt her friend and being too tired to anyway, “Heh, heh, I always knew Jesse was right putting you in charge. Come on guys you heard the girl let’s move.” The vampire ordered, and they super speeded off, leaving Erica with two terrified friends “well Emily, looks like this is it. I just wanted to say that I always loved you, even when you were making fun of me.” Rory said, hugging her in fear, “yeah, I also wanted to say that, I always thought you were the least annoying geek in the entire school.” Emily said, returning the hug and waiting for Erica to make her move. But she never attacked, when they both opened their eyes, they saw Erica holding out her hand and smiling sweetly, showing she meant no harm.

“You tricked them to get them away from us.” Emily said, “But why?” Rory asked, “Because nobody messes with friends and gets away with it.” Erica said, picking Emily up in her arms. “Didn’t you just leave Sarah and Dakota to die?” Emily asked, “Ok, maybe I haven’t been the best friend lately. I should probably help them.” Erica said, “No, don’t its good that you left you both need to get out of here.” Emily said, “Why?” They asked, “Because we hooked up holy to the fire system as our plan B.” Emily said, “Wait, the holy water that can kill us!?” Rory asked, “No, Rory, the other holy water!” Emily yelled, then facepalmed, “Is he always like this?” Erica asked, “Unfortunately, yes.” Emily said,

“You two wait for us outside, and count the remaining Dusk fans we need to know how many souls Jesse got in case the worst comes.” She said, “But what about you?” Rory asked, “I’m going back to help my friends.” Emily said, “Alright, good luck, Emily.” Erica said, “If you’re not back in 11 minutes, we’re coming after you.” Rory said, “Thanks guys, but you’ve done all you can just wait for us.” Emily said, and she ran once more back into the screening room.

Meanwhile, Gord and two other vampires had me, and Sarah cornered, I knew that if I killed one vampire, it would cause the others to attack us. As I was thinking of what to do, I saw Benny charging straight for them “freedom!” Benny yelled but was knocked out by Gord, “my hero.” I said dryly, “Haha, a brave geek is still just a geek.” Gord said when Ethen jumped in to save us “stop right, I mean it.” Ethen said dagger outstretched, “Oh yeah! Or what?” Gord asked, “Or this.” Ethen said, throwing the dagger at Gord but hitting another vampire instead, “alright, I’ll take it.” I said, “Ok, now you’re both dead.” Gord said, “Behold the flame of invincibility.” Ethen said, holding out a lighter, “This is plan B seriously?” Sarah said, “Even I have to admit this is kind of pathetic.” I said, laughing with the vampires. “You know we’re not actually afraid fire, right? You should have down some research or something.” Gord said just as Ethen threw the lighter in the air hitting an overhead sprinkler setting it off.

“Holy water attack! Everyone stay calm.” Mabel said, running in a panic. I used my umbrella that I have with me at all times to cover Mabel and Ethen used his jacket to cover Sarah, as the vampires all burned in the holy water rain. “Wow, I got here just in time.” Emily said, seeing the mess, “thank goodness you’re ok, but, what happened to Benny?” She asked, “Knocked out by Gord, where’s Rory and Erica?” I asked, “Waiting for us outside.” Emily said, “Hey, where’s Jesse?” Mimi asked, “He left ages ago, come on we have to find him. The eclipse will be complete in ten minutes we have to go now.” Amy said, and we left outside Rory and Erica were patiently waiting for our return. “This was the craziest night of my life.” Rory said, “Then why are you smiling?” Erica asked, “Because this was the craziest night of my life!” Rory said excitedly

“Sorry about the attacks, no refunds.” Erica said to the remaining crowd, “Erica!” Rory said, “What, I made over 100 dollars. I’m not giving that up.” She said, “Where are they? They should be back by now.” Rory said, “I’m sure there fine they’ll be back soon; I’m sure of it.” Erica said, “But, But what if something happened to them.” Rory said, worried, “Don’t worry, I’m sure they're ok.” Erica reassured, rubbing Rory’s shoulder “advance screening more like advance screaming, am I right?” Emily said as she opened the door, “you’re ok!” Rory beamed, “See I told you.” Erica said, “Rory, Erica, you’re alright!” Mabel and I said, running to them and hugging them. “Tell Grandma to answer the phone.” Benny said still in pain, “Benny, are you ok?” Rory asked

“Yeah, he’ll be fine, hopefully.” I said, “Hold on, B, stay with me.” Ethen said, putting him down on his grandma's car “come on come on hurry. The eclipse is in eight minutes, and we have to find Jesse.” Ethen said, “Take the car, I’m too weak, and the huger is getting stronger.” Sarah said as Rory and Erica helped her stand, “you have to come with us. We need to stop Jesse and-“Just go now!” Sarah said, “I suggest you do what she says.” Rory said, “Rory, Erica get Sarah some animal blood, and when she feels better to meet us at wherever Jesse is.” I said, “Here, take this.” Amy said, giving them a familiar vail with red liquid in it. “Hey, that’s the stuff you gave her last time.” I said, “What is this stuff?” Erica asked as Sarah drank it “its substitute blood, Benny’s grandma gave this to me before we left. She said it will give Sarah the strength she needs. It will also stop her mortal body from dying until we can find a care.” Amy explained,

“Erica? How many souls do you think Jesse got?” Amy asked, “I counted 100 people left.” Erica said, “I did too.” Rory said, “That means Jesse has got at least 119 souls.” I said, “That’s a pretty good number of souls to bring back his flock.” Mimi said, “Don’t worry, we won’t let him succeed. Come on guys let’s go.” Ethen said, “Wait, Dakota, don’t forget your hat.” Rory said, taking off the hat and giving me my sword back. “Thanks, Rory if you want to borrow a copy ability hat again, just let me know I’ll be happy to.” I said, putting the stuff in my backpack, “we’ll let you know what we find, let’s move guys.” Emily said, “Come on, B.” Ethen said helping Benny get in the car, and we left leaving Rory and Erica to take care of Sarah 

“Benny, hey.” Ethen said, “Hey.” Benny replied weakly Jesse must be taking the nest of souls to wherever his followers are buried, okay? Um, where is that?” Ethen asked, “Yep found love at the snack bar, my friend ha ow.” Benny said still dazed from getting hit while I held an ice pack to his head “Benny. Ok, the prophecy says; “The dead take root, a barren orchard bears the devil’s fruit.” A barren orchard uh Benny?” Ethen asked, “You know I gave her my address: Fifty-three Orchard Park, come any time.” Benny said, laying back down “he’s no help.” Emily said, “Wait that tree. That tree from my visions, I know that tree. Ok, it’s not possible.” Ethen said, “What is it, Ethen?” I asked, “Ok, this might sound crazy, but I think Jesse’s flock might be buried in my backyard.” Ethen said, “You’re right Ethen, you do sound crazy.” Emily said, “Wait that tree, the one in your backyard?” Amy asked, “Yeah, I hope I’m right.” Ethen said when we got back to Ethen’s house, we knew Jesse was going to be here. “Benny, Benny I’m going to call your grandma to come get you ok.” Ethen said, “Ok.” Benny said weakly, “Ok we’ve got four minutes left to save the world. You hang tough ok?” Ethen said as he left with us.

“I never did like that tree.” Ethen said, “funny how they name streets after what they tore down to make them.” Jesse said, “This used to be an orchard; one of my favorite spots until your idiot ancestors burned my flock alive.” He said, “Yeah? Well, I’d say their only mistake is not finishing the job.” Ethen said, “You made me miss my target, so the rest of my flock may have to wait a little longer. That’s fine. I still have enough Dusker souls here to resurrect a few dozen of the most powerful vampires that ever lived. And you’ll have the honor of being their first-midnight snack.” Jesse said, “Well, you won’t have to wait, because I’m going to reunite you with your flock right now. Just not in this world.” Ethen said as him, and I tried to attack Jesse, but he used some kind of force to pin us down “I don’t know how he's doing that, but I can’t move."

I said, “Ha, ha, it’s funny, I knew your grandfather’s grandfather. He was a loser too.” Jesse said, “Can’t breathe.” I said as Jesse continued to hold us down “Courage!” Benny yelled, trying to knock Jesse over but fell into us instead, “Oww, sorry bud.” Benny said, feeling much better “Benny didn’t learn your lesson last time you did that.” I said, “The hour of rebirth has come. Brothers and sisters arise.” Jesse said rising the box higher just as he was about to resurrect his flock Sarah came down knocking the cubile animus out of his hands and onto the ground.

“I got it.” Mabel said, joining us, “Hey, we’ve got your friends in a box.” Ethen said, “And I’ve got your babysitter.” Jesse said, holding Sarah up, “ok, she’s really Jane’s babysitter.” Benny said, Give me the cubile animus! The souls must be transferred now.” Jesse said, “Sarah!” Ethen said seeing her struggle “just give it to him, what are we going to do with a nest of souls anyway? eBay it?” Benny asked, “He has a point, you know.” Emily said, “Now! Hand it over, or she dies.” Jesse said, “Ethen, no, don’t.” Sarah said we were about to do it when Benny’s grandma and Jane cast a spell that caused a bolt of lightning to strake Jesse making him drop Sarah. “You ok girl?” I asked, “Yeah, I’m fine.” Sarah said, “Good to see that blood worked.” Benny said, “Hey! You can have the box, but not what’s inside.” Ethen said, “You wrecked their premiere, now you deal with them.” He said, opening the box letting the souls free “No, no, no, what have you done!?” Jesse exclaimed, “Hash-tag most cliché villain line ever.” Emily said eating popcorn she saved from the theater. We watched the souls fly around and strike Jesse a few times, and after some screams of agony he was gone

“Can’t believe you dated that guy.” Benny said when it was all over “wow that was both the coolest and lamest defeat I have ever seen. I mean we didn’t even fight him, the souls did our dirty work.” Emily said, “I agree, definitely not on my top ten.” “Yeah, he’s definitely not worth putting on our resume.” Amy said, “So we stopped Jesse, and saved many lives what do we do next?” I asked, “Well, I’m going to be calling in some angel reinforcements to help return those Dusker souls back to their respected bodies. After that, we’ll find a safe place for the nest of souls. I say we destroy it.” Emily said, “How about you just bury it?” Jane called from the window, “burry it?” I asked, “Yeah, that’s what they do in all the movies. They bury the dangerous artifact to make way for the sequel.” Jane said, “I say we do that.” I said, “Alright, let’s get some shovels and bury the devil's fruit seed or whatever.” Emily said, “what can Mabel and I do?’ I asked, “Not much, take the rest of the night off you deserved it.” Emily said, “Great, I have something I want to do.” I said pulling out my phone, “Hey Rory, yeah we’re wrapped up you still down for some ice cream? Sure, Erica can come.” I said, “Oh, can I come too?” Mabel asked, “You know you can Mabe’s. Rory loves you too.” I said, putting my arm around her.

As the others cleaned up the mess, Mabel and I had ice cream with Rory and Erica; we even brought some back to Ethen’s house for the rest to celebrate Jesse’s defeat. “I have to admit having vampires for friends is going to make this school year so much cooler.” Emily said, “Yeah, and thanks for bringing back ice cream, Dakota.” Amy said, “No problem, I had a lot of fun with Rory and Erica. And Speaking of Erica, Sarah I know you two haven’t been on the best of terms but did she at least speak to you while you were resting at the theater?” I asked, “Yeah she did, we managed to patch things up. We had a real good talk, and we’re friends again.” Sarah said happily, “That’s good to know. Now, all we need is for Ethen’s parents to return home and we can call it a night.” Cindy said, just as the door opened, “Well, speaking of which.” Chloe said, “Oh, hey, you’re back had fun?” Sarah asked, “It was it was fun.” Mr. Morgan said, “Except that, th, the.” “Do you know what they say about karma?” Mrs. Morgan said, holding up her hand in an arm cast, “so how was your night? Had any trouble?” She asked, “Ah, not much, it was pretty dead.” Sarah said, “More like undead.” Mabel said, causing us to glare at her, “Sorry, I’m a vampire fan.” She said.


	10. All’s Well That Ends Well

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's all over, Jesse's gone the town is safe. And Dakota and the others have got the most awesome vampire best friends in the whole world. And now it's time to just kick back and enjoy the school year.

The next day word about the attacks at the Dusk screening spread like wildfire, even though everyone involved made a full recovery, the damage was down, and everyone was talking about it. At first we thought to make a cover-up about everything, but in the end, we agreed to keep this whole ordeal between us. Nobody will ever know the truth except for me and my friends, Ethen, Benny, Sarah, Rory, Erica, Jane, Benny’s Grandma, and of course Jesse himself. During the weekend we all took the time to relax Rory spent time playing video games with Ethen, Benny, Mabel and myself and Erica was spending her time with Sarah and Emily at the mall, and everyone else was just trying to adjust to a normal life again. Amy began researching a vampire cure for Sarah, and she enlisted help from Ethen, Benny and Mrs. Weir. So far things weren’t looking so good, But Amy wouldn’t give up until Sarah became human again. As for the remaining vampires after Jesse’s defeat and getting a stern talking to from the vampire council they all agreed to live peacefully alongside human in secret of course.

Erica and Rory also agreed to be peaceful as well, (even though Rory never wanted to hurt anyone anyway.) Erica promised to stay out of trouble for now, and not to drink as much blood from humans. (But we knew she would break this promise when she got the chance.) But after we told her about Jesse she took it rather well, people like Jesse that try to hurt her friends and force them to do something they don’t want to do is top on her not hot list as for Rory he decided to stick to rats and birds and if he wanted human blood he would make sure it was already out of their body, like in donated bags before consuming it. Overall Whitechapel was returning to normal (if you call having vampire and angles living among you normal. But you know what, I do.) As we were all walking to school Monday morning and talking about the gift baskets we found on our doorsteps, we saw Principal Hicks try to explain to the news reports what happened last Friday night. “I’d like to ask you not to repeat these silly rumors of alleged attacks in here. In the first place, fans of the vampire genre have active imaginations. And secondly, I am told that defective 3D glasses may have caused adverse neurological side effects. In any case, there won’t be any more Dusker events on my watch.” Principal Hicks explained

“Faulty 3D glasses? Who’s gullible enough to believe that?” Sarah asked, “Ahem, these are Duskers we’re talking about, remember?” Ethen said, “Oh, besides town is safe, Jesse’s rejoined his flock, it’s all good right?” Benny asked, “Yep, sure is.” I said, “You, You’re not still dying, are you?” Ethen asked Sarah, “I mean, your mortal body seems to be doing just fine.” Ethen said, “Thanks, well, Benny’s grandmother makes a mean human blood substitute.” Sarah said, “That and she found my spell book.” Benny said, “Hey, guys.” Rory called out with Erica by his side “Hey Rory, hi Erica.” Mabel and I said, running up to hug them, “hey.” Benny said, “Last night was so much fun. I was just telling Erica how Dakota kicked Benny’s but at “Super Smash Brother’s” last night.” Rory said, “Yeah, because I let her win.” Benny said, “Are you sure about that?” We all said, “Yep, pretty much all over; let’s go to class.” Ethen said, “Good idea.” Benny said, “Hey, Mable? Don’t you have to go home this weekend?” Rory asked, not wanting to say goodbye to the second girl to have a crush on him.

Well, about that.” Mabel said, “After everything that happened, I convinced my parents to let me stay.” Mabel said, “Wait, so you’re staying?” Erica asked excitedly, “you bet your top fangs I’m staying! But I have leave after mid-terms.” Mabel said, “Well looks like we’re stuck with you for a little while longer. Welcome to the team.” Ethen said, “Anyway the trick with the spell is you gotta phrase it like Klingon, kinda like with a you know Romulan twang. It’s like a splash of Cylon.” Benny explained, “Benny shut up!” We shouted, “Sorry.” Benny said as we started laughing. 


	11. Epilogue & Sneak Peek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's the end folks I hope you liked getting into the world that Dakota lives in. I'm sure you're wondering how I got these out so fast. I wrote this fic last year and finished it back in July. New stories are in the works so stay tuned.

We’ve all had moments in life that just come unexpectedly, things that are just meant to happen to help find one's destiny. Even as I’m writing this I consider Ethen, Benny, Sarah, Rory, and Erica to be the best friends I could ever ask for we didn’t know it then but who knows what secrets were waiting to be discovered by us in the small town of Whitechapel.

**December 3, 2018 **

“Hey, Dakota whatcha doing?” My best friend Rory asked me coming by my side and giving me a kiss on the cheek “Rory! You know you can’t do that anymore.” I said, looking up from my scrapbook, “Sorry, whatcha, looking at?” He asked, “Our old scrapbook, do you remember this?” I asked, “Yeah, we were so young at the time I can’t believe it’s been seven years already.” Rory said, sitting down to look with me, “I remember everything so clearly, you know I should be writing this down.” I said, “Yeah, you should before you forget, and it becomes lost with time.” Rory said, “You’re right I could make it my own personal memoirs. I could make them all about our adventures, and I could ask Amy to make Books out of them for others too.” I said excitedly, “Hey, that’s a great idea.” Rory said with a mouth full of cookie “come on, Rory, let’s go.” I said, bringing him to my bedroom and getting my computer out and opening a word document, “So how do we start?” He asked, “How about like this.” I said, and I begin to type the first words of the very story you’re reading right now. 

Sneak peek

Whitechapel is safe, but not for long. All Ethen Morgan wants is a normal year in high school, all his best friend Benny Weir wants is to impress his crush, Della. When he finds out that his love interest’s dog died, he knows just the thing to make her happy and love him. Bring the dog back from the dead, but that bow wow soon turns to bow ow. When Whitechapel becomes overrun by undead demon critters it is up to Ethen and the gang to put a stop to it, will they rang victories or will Whitechapel be gone to the dogs and more importantly will Benny ever impress Della? All this and more in creative cutie’s next existing entry in the Whitechapel Adventures series. Introducing Whitechapel Adventures Book 2: Night of the Undead Critters, Based on the My Babysitters a Vampire episode: Lawn of the Dead coming to a fanfiction site near you. 


End file.
